Vanquished
by GeorgeGlass
Summary: When Aro suddenly disappears from Alice's visions, an unbelievable hidden secret is soon discovered, but the answers are anything but easy. Can Emmett and Rosalie's relationship survive this revelation?  7 years post-BD, Emmett's POV. Canon-compatible.
1. Vision

**Okay, I think I'm back for real now. I got a good start on that original I was working on, but that's all it amounts to for right now: A good start. I have too many fanfic ideas to ignore! **

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter One - Vision

Alice sat bolt upright with a gasp.

This could only mean one thing. She must have gotten a vision, and a particularly disturbing one at that. The rest of us would have to sit and wait patiently for a few minutes before we found out what it was all about. At my side, Rosalie was already starting to huff in annoyance. I stroked her hair in silence. It always seemed to calm her down.

"That's impossible," Edward murmured. There was a pause. "He must be there somewhere." Another pause. "Of course I'm not accusing you of anything," he told Alice in a soothing tone. "I didn't mean to imply anything of the sort. I'm simply stating that there must be another explanation." Several long minutes went by while both Alice and Edward closed their eyes, deep in the conversation that always appeared one-sided to the rest of us.

"It's irritating enough to have you two drifting around all the time, spying on us and being spooky. Can't you just, for once, tell us what you're muttering about?" Rosalie hissed.

"Rose..." I began, pleading with her to settle down. For the last few years, she'd been calm, almost happy, but she was starting to resemble her old self more and more. It didn't take a genius to figure out why she'd been on edge so much, but there was no point in worrying about it. All I could do was try my damnedest to be the best husband I could be.

Edward succeeded in silencing Rosalie where I had failed, fixing his steely glare on her. I shot him a couple of choice threatening words in my thoughts, and his gaze softened a little. No need to stress her anymore than she already was. Time to lighten the mood.

"All right, we give up," I said, throwing on my patented fix-Rosalie's-bad-mood grin. "Is it bigger than a breadbox?"

Edward sent me a dirty look, but that was fine. I could take it. I could dish it out too. I cracked my knuckles to prove it, and Edward rolled his eyes before finally answering the question on thee tip of everyone's tongue.

"Aro just disappeared from the future," he announced matter-of-factly.

Now it was everyone else's turn to gasp, and a few seconds later, the room was abuzz with high speed, high-pitched chatter.

"Does that mean he's dead?" Bella asked hopefully. She made no effort to conceal her glee at the notion that the man who had loomed over her humanity during her last year might be gone.

Jasper, who had been serenely playing a game of solitaire in the corner, shook his head. "I sincerely doubt it. I think Alice would've noticed if somebody had killed him. It's more likely that he found a new recruit with the ability to conceal him from her visions."

A beat of dead silence followed Jasper's assessment. "Alice would have noticed that too," Esme said firmly. God bless that woman, ever believing in the infallibility of a gift that had already been proven to be full of gaping holes that you could run a whole pack of werewolves through. I saw the corners of Edward's mouth flicker upward. Of course he'd heard that. He heard everything.

"Not necessarily," Carlisle asserted, walking into the room from his study. "If the person he'd found truly has the inherent ability to block others from Alice's visions, he or she might have also blocked Alice from seeing any interactions with Aro just before joining the guard."

"Like Bella's ability," Rosalie whispered, taking in the seriousness of the matter. "At first, it only affected her, but once she learned to use it, she could use it on others."

Another beat of silence. Even I was having a hard time making light of this situation.

"Alice," Bella began tentatively. "Can you still see the others? Caius, Marcus, Jane, Alec...?"

Alice shut her eyes and tilted her head back, deep in concentration. "Yes," she declared after a moment. "They're all there. All of them. Only Aro is missing. I don't see anyone new either."

"Then they're still as much of a threat as they ever were in a fight," I said. Aro was formidable, but from a strategical standpoint, it had never been him that worried me. It was always the twins. But we had Bella, and the twins were useless so long as she could shield us. We were the only coven who had a legitimate chance of taking out the Volturi if it came to blows. They'd left us alone for a long time, but whether it was because they'd given up or wanted to build up their forces and find someone that Bella couldn't shield us from was anyone's guess. That was why Alice continued to watch them. We needed to know anytime Aro added someone new to the guard so that we could figure out how to best fight them when the day arrived that they'd come for her. We weren't giving her up. Not to those beasts.

Rosalie snaked her arm around my waist in what I assumed was a subconscious gesture of fear. I draped my arm over her shoulder, hoping that she understood that no matter what happened, I'd always be there for her, always be at her side. Where she went, I went. Alice was my sister, but Rose was my soulmate.

"There's no reason to assume that it will come to that now," Carlisle said reasonably. "If in fact Aro has somehow died, I doubt that the Volturi will move against us right away. Perhaps not at all. It was always Aro who was determined to surround himself with talented vampires. It's possible they may no longer want Alice at all."

Did we dare hope for that much?

"Alice?" Rosalie spoke up timidly. "What about Sulpicia?"

Alice nodded her head emphatically. "Aro's wife is still there. She seems... Happy."

Now _that_ made even less sense than Aro disappearing from the future unannounced. It wasn't as if Chelsea could have broken their connection before Aro was overthrown. Even if the Volturi had somehow managed to conspire against him and kill him swiftly enough that Alice hadn't noticed the decision being made, they would have killed his wife too. They would have been doing her a favor, if the way we'd seen other vampires behave after being separated from their mates was any indication. I pulled Rosalie closer, inhaling the scent of her hair and refusing to even imagine a life without her. No point in worrying about something that was absolutely, positively, never going to happen.

"So what do we do?" Esme's concern was apparent in her tone.

"No reason to do anything until we know what's going on," Jasper answered. I felt suddenly calm and at peace and glanced curiously back at my brother, who winked at me by way of confirmation. _Thank you_, I mouthed at him. Rosalie's tension was starting to fade under his influence.

"I agree," Carlisle's voice was no different under Jasper's soothing than it had been under his own personal unshakable inner peace. Amazingly, I had never once seen Carlisle behave in an emotionally-charged fervor, and I'd seen him in plenty of awful situations.

"So we just sit here?" Rosalie screeched. Damn. I'd really thought Jasper was helping her.

"What else is there to do, babe?" I cringed as she pulled away from me in annoyance and stormed upstairs without another word.

"Welp, see you in the morning, Emmett," Jasper called.

"Shush, she just needs a few minutes to herself. Let's go find a bear. I could eat." And _then_ I'd spend all night and half of the next day trying to get back in her good graces. Such was my life, but I wouldn't trade a minute of it. I started to get up from the couch, but Carlisle motioned me back down.

"Just a minute, Emmett. I do think we should try to make a few discreet contacts to a few of our closer friends to see if they've heard anything. I'll give Tanya's family a call, and Jasper, I'd appreciate it if you could try to get in touch with Peter and Charlotte."

"Of course," Jasper agreed readily. "I don't think we can trust many of our other friends."

"I agree," Carlisle said once again. "We need to be careful to what we say to anyone from here on out, whether they are vampire, human, or werewolf."

At that last word, we heard the familiar sound of the Rabbit pulling up the driveway, which meant that Jacob was bringing Nessie back home after a long day of shopping in Port Angeles. It was yet another reason Rosalie had been in a foul mood today; she'd wanted to go shopping with Nessie, but of course Nessie had preferred to drag Jacob along and he was all too willing to go. Rose's dislike for Jacob was diminishing, but she still couldn't tolerate the stench, and it was hard to blame her. The dude reeked.

Footsteps came up the walkway and hesitated near the front door, lingering for a long time. Edward kept shifting uncomfortably, and after a few seconds he winced and got up in a flash, starting toward the door. Bella was blocking his way before he had a chance to get through.

"You can't hear what they're thinking out there! I can!"

"Would you prefer if I shielded them?" Bella answered innocently. "Jake's a good guy. I trust him."

"I don't," Edward grumbled, but returned reluctantly to his seat.

"And that's my cue to leave," I heard Jacob chuckling outside. "See you tomorrow, Ness."

Nessie bounded in the front door, looking every bit of eighteen years old and carrying a variety of bags that would have put one of Alice's shopping sprees to shame. "Hi everybody, sorry I'm late, we decided to go to Seattle because we were making such good time."

"Somebody was making time anyway," I said under my breath, not daring to look in Edward's direction.

Nessie, for her part, rolled her eyes. "Gross, Uncle Em. Way to spoil the mood, Edward!" She had taken to calling Edward and Bella by their first names last year. It made the most sense, because she wouldn't exactly be able to go around calling them "Mom and Dad" when they looked the same age as she was. Besides, she'd reasoned, Edward called his parents by their first names, and Bella always talked about her parents the same way. Neither of them had liked the idea much, but they hadn't ever been very good at denying her anything. Especially when it made sense.

"There doesn't need to _be_ a mood. You are seven years old. He is twenty-three." Edward growled.

"And when you met Bella, she was seventeen and you were a hundred and—" she started to argue.

"Enough, both of you, enough!" Bella was used to playing referee when Edward and Nessie clashed heads. It was fun to watch, since I'd always thought Bella didn't have much of a backbone.

"Doesn't anybody want to hear about my day?" Nessie asked, batting her chocolate brown eyes in that way that was usually impossible for anyone to resist.

Carlisle cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, Renesmee, I'm afraid you've caught us all at a bad time." There was a brief uncomfortable silence. What should we tell Nessie? We'd just gotten done talking about the fact that we had to be careful what we said, and telling her anything constituted a pretty serious breach of security. Whatever she knew, Jacob would know within twenty-four hours. Whatever Jacob knew, his entire pack would know by the end of the day. Whatever his pack knew, the other pack would learn soon enough. So much for not telling the wolves.

Nessie set her bags down at the end of the couch and plopped clumsily down on the couch beside me in the empty spot Rose had left. Half-vampires were nowhere near as graceful as the rest of us, and she _did _have her mother's genes. I couldn't help smiling to myself whenever I saw her tripping or dropping things. She was less funny than Bella used to be, but it was better than nothing. She looked expectantly up at Carlisle, waiting for him to continue with the big news. "Well?" she prompted verbally when staring didn't do the trick. When that, too, did nothing, she glanced around the room at all of us, waiting to be clued in. So far, all anyone had done was glance nervously at one another while Nessie tried to get the truth out of someone, anyone.

"Come on guys, I know I'm chronologically only seven, but I can handle it, whatever it is." Her impatience was evident. Physically, she was eighteen, mentally, probably closer to thirty, but emotionally, she wasn't much older than twelve. She was used to getting her way all the time, and she couldn't stand when it didn't happen. Now who did _that_ remind me of?

That thought earned me a smack to the back of the head from Edward, but it was worth it.

"Think of the devil," Edward murmured low enough that only I heard him. Sure enough, Rose was coming back down the stairs, looking every inch as beautiful as she had the first moment I saw her, except that I hadn't just been mauled by a bear.

"This affects her too, as much as any of the rest of us, maybe even more than the rest of us," Rosalie announced. "We should tell her."

"Rose..." Edward warned. It was one of the few subjects the two of them were still willing to dogfight over: How Nessie should be raised. Sure, she was Edward's daughter, but Rose was the one who had wanted children _before_ one magically showed up without anyone knowing it was even possible. She'd read all kinds of books about child-rearing and had studied child psychology for years. All Edward had done was fail to wear a condom.

Plus, there was the matter of the fact that Rosalie had fought for Nessie to be born in the first place, while Edward had wanted to terminate. Rose hung that over his head shamelessly, threatening to tell Nessie one of the few truths that Edward demanded she remain in the dark about.

"We're going to need to protect her at all times until we find out what's going on," Rosalie argued. "She deserves to know why she's on 24-hour protection detail."

_It's hard to disagree with her when she's actually being reasonable,_ I told Edward.

Edward made a scoffing noise, and Bella re-entered the conversation, for once actually acting like Nessie's mother. "Renesmee, can you keep a secret from Jacob?"

Nessie looked horrified at the suggestion.

"Only for a little while," Bella backpedaled, causing Rose and I to roll our eyes in unison. "Just until we have a better idea of what we're up against. It might be nothing. We really don't know much yet—"

"Fine, fine, I won't tell him," Nessie grunted. "What's going on?"

"Aro's future disappeared today," Alice piped up. "No one else has disappeared, only him. We don't think he's dead, but we don't think anyone's shielding him. We have no idea what it means yet, and we don't want to raise any alarm bells until we do. If something has happened to the Volturi, it would be irresponsible for us to tell everyone about it. Covens would start carrying out atrocities that previously weren't allowed because there will be no one to stop them. We have to proceed with caution until we know more."

"And I can't tell Jacob about this... Why?" Nessie folded her arms across her chest in defiance. "It isn't as if he goes around sending mass texts to every vampire on the planet."

"We'd rather keep this quiet for now," Carlisle told Nessie, and her posture relaxed. As difficult as it was for anyone to deny her anything, she found it equally difficult to disobey her grandparents.

"All right, but I won't be able to keep it from him for long. He's my best friend. So you guys better figure this out pretty fast."

"That had better be all he is," Edward muttered, too quietly for the half-vampire to hear, but loudly enough for the rest of us.

"Well if no one wants to hear about my day," Nessie pouted, "I think I'll go ahead and get some sleep. Jake's taking me to the beach tomorrow morning. Should I sleep here tonight?"

"Sure, sweetie, you can use our bed," Rose answered, her voice softening as it usually did when she spoke to her niece. "It's not as if we'll be using it," she added for my ears only, much to my annoyance.

Nessie said her goodnights and headed upstairs, leaving her bags behind to be dealt with in the morning while we continued to try to sort out the mystery.


	2. Shopping

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Two - Shopping

For the others, it was frustrating to not have a clue what to do next. We spent all night gathered in a circle, going over and over every remote possibility. Personally, I was having a lot of trouble seeing what the big deal was. Either Aro was alive, in which case we just had to keep watching our backs just like we'd been doing for the better part of the last decade, or he was dead, in which case we probably didn't need to worry about the guard showing up in the middle of the night to try whisk Alice and Edward away. In any case, they would never succeed in pulling off a mission like that. They had no legitimate weapons apart from the twins, and Bella could hold them off. If it came to blows, Jasper and I could take out quite a few of them with some others left over for the wolves to tear apart. Now that Nessie was in the picture, the wolves would be all too happy to help us in a fight.

Everybody around here liked to get so worked up over every little inconvenience. What was worrying going to change? If we worried hard enough, would that make Aro come back to life and be back in charge? Did we even want that anyway?

"As far as I'm concerned, everybody just needs to take a chill pill," I finally said, leaning back in the couch with my hands clasped behind my head, elbows pointed outward on either side. I crossed the ankle of my left leg over my right knee to emphasize just how relaxed I was about this latest world-ending crisis. Sometimes I really wondered what exactly I'd done wrong in my life to get myself wrapped up in an eternity of angst-ridden companions. Too many women, too much wine?

Rose aimed a sharp kick at my left leg, knocking it down. "Idiot, we don't know _what_ to expect from the Volturi anymore if Aro _is_ dead. And if he isn't, then they've obviously got something new up their sleeve."

"I understand all that, Rose. I know you all like to think I'm a big dumb idiot, but I _have_ been listening. I just don't see what standing around wringing our hands is going to do about the problem, and I don't see that we even have any proof that there _is_ actually a problem. So what do you say, we go out, bag us a bear, and start preparing once we have an idea of what we're preparing for?"

"Is everything always about _food_ for you?" Rosalie huffed and turned her body away from me.

"I can think of at least one other thing I like more than food," I grinned, moving toward my wife.

"Emmett," Edward moaned, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "Could you try to think a little more quietly, please?"

And with that, things returned more or less to normal. Jasper decided that it had been awhile since he ate after all, and Esme decided to tag along with us since she needed to run out to the store anyway to pick up some things for the lunch she was going to pack for Jacob and Nessie's planned beach trip. I felt a little sorry for her for needing to take on that task. Either one of those kids ate enough to feed the entire population of Forks High School.

Speaking of Forks High School...

"When does Nessie start going to school anyway?" I asked Esme casually as we piled into my beloved Jeep. We had decided to go a little out of our way, feed first, then double back and hit the store. That way, we wouldn't be tempting fate by being hungry in a store full of people.

"She starts in two weeks. She's been so excited about it. That's why she bought so many new clothes yesterday. I feel so badly that we didn't give her a chance to model any of them last night," Esme answered, fretting needlessly over her perceived slight against her granddaughter.

"She'll be fine, Esme. So she'll model her clothes for us today instead. Girl must be nuts, excited to go to school."

"It's the first time for her," Jasper piped up from the back seat. "She'll get sick of it eventually. I'm a little jealous though, she'll have a much easier time fitting in than we did, since she can eat and isn't ice cold to the touch."

She had wanted to start school the previous year, and she had looked about the right age to start high school, but Edward was concerned that the staff might notice the rapid pace of her aging. Now that she was finished, there was no harm in sending her. The problem was that she looked too much like both Bella and Edward, and since we had stayed in Forks for so long, she would be going to the same school where they had both been taught. The final decision had been to dye her hair and enroll her as Vanessa Swan, Bella's cousin who had come to stay with Charlie. Hopefully no one would notice that some of he facial features were much more reminiscent of Edward Cullen, since she at least wouldn't have his hair anymore.

Staying in Forks for this long had been trying for all of us, most of all Carlisle. We didn't have a lot of options open to us. Nessie didn't want to be away from the pack (read: Jacob), and Bella didn't want to be away from her father. Most of us could get away with making only short trips into Forks and conducting the majority of our business in Port Angeles or Seattle where no one would notice that we hadn't changed. Carlisle, on the other hand, had been forced to leave his job. He'd barely been able to pass for 35; there was no way anyone would believe that he was 40. It had been a terrible strain on him, since helping people was one of his greatest joys.

We had talked about splitting up for a few years, leaving Bella, Edward, and Nessie to their own devices in Forks while the rest of us moved on to another city so Carlisle could return to work and the rest of us wouldn't have to hide. Normally, it would have been a great plan, but Rosalie didn't want to spend one day away from Nessie while she was growing up, and Esme didn't want to be away from half of her family for so long. It was hard enough on her when Rose and I would move away for a couple of years at a time to enjoy married life. Now that Nessie was done growing, it might be time to suggest that as an option again.

"Ever think about revisiting the idea of moving away for awhile?" I asked nervously.

"We can't do anything drastic until we know more about Aro," Esme told me firmly.

"Yeah, I know, but after that?"

"I'm not making any plans until I know my family is safe."

Right. Stupid of me to even bring it up. I considered pressing the line of questioning further, but I'd never really seen Esme get pissed off at anyone, and something told me this wasn't the day to change that. It was time for a new topic, but I'd had entirely enough of discussing the Volturi for the day.

Jasper must have sensed my discomfort and even managed to guess at the reason for it. "Emmett, I heard you and Seth the other day talking about putting together a vampires vs. werewolves tournament." Bless that brother of mine for having talents that are useful without being irritating.

"Yeah, we were really just joking around, but if you think there might be some interest we could try to do it for real," I told him.

"Tournament?" Esme arched an eyebrow. "It sounds dangerous and bloody and not something I want happening in my house."

"Relax, Mom," I grinned. "A video game tournament. Fun way to get out some pent-up rage without getting PETA on our asses for hurting any actual animals."

"Yeah, because we never hurt animals," Jasper muttered.

"We don't _hurt_ them, we kill them. There's a huge difference! By the time they even feel it, it's over!"

We spent the rest of the trip having a jovial debate about whether hunting with our bare hands and teeth constituted cruelty to animals. In the end, Jasper and I decided that it was only cruel if we let Edward talk to them about the influence of literature on modern society, and Esme decided that we were both being terribly inconsiderate to our brother who wasn't present to defend himself. Thank goodness he found Bella. Dude had absolutely no game at all. He might have managed to bore a few girls into sleeping with him just so he'd shut up and quit droning about what a monster he was, but I really couldn't imagine him actually trying to flirt with a girl.

_Hello, my name is Edward. I enjoy playing the piano and brooding. Also, I will alternate between reading your mind and obnoxiously pointing it out, and reading the minds of those around us and having irritating one-sided conversations with them. Would you like to go make out?_

Actually, that might legitimately work. Edward could've rocked the whole "emo" fad if he would've just combed his hair into his face.

We found a nice secluded spot to park and went on a hunt for bears. Unfortunately, the only bear I could find was no challenge at all. If I hadn't put him out of his misery, he probably would've keeled over and died later that same day. Esme and Jasper settled for whatever they could find and we were back on our way, needing to grab some human food for the slightly different non-mythical mythical creatures.

"Emmett, that bear didn't seem too satisfying to you," Jasper remarked once we were back on the road.

"Ehh, bear blood is bear blood."

"Really? As slow as that thing was moving, I figured it'd taste like chipmunk blood."

"Nope, it was nice and beary."

"What kind of berry? Strawberry? Blueberry?"

"Bearberry," I deadpanned.

Esme shook her head at us, but I could tell that our conversation was lifting her mood. She took everything to heart so much, sometimes she needed a good distraction and she sure never seemed to go out of her way to find them on her own. She always spent so much of her time and energy making sure we were all right, I felt a sudden twinge of guilt that we didn't expend nearly as much effort on making sure that she was.

"The berries were bare? Seems immodest." Jasper had apparently reached the same conclusion as I.

"Berry much so."

By this point, Esme was staring straight ahead out the windshield and her mouth was twitching in an effort not to laugh. Jasper went for the kill.

"Seriously, Em. That thing was barely alive."

Esme lost her composure. "You two, I can't bear any more of this!"

"If there's one thing I can't stand, it's an overbearing mother," I called back to Jasper.

"Can you blame her? Bear in mind, she's got to put up with us!"

Esme's face was buried in her palms, her shoulders shaking in hysterics. It was uplifting to see her laughing again. Who knew when we might have another chance, depending on what we managed to find out about our latest crisis.

I pulled into the parking lot of the supermarket, which looked to be just opening for business. We'd have to hurry all the same if we planned to get back home in time for Esme to throw lunch together for Nessie and Jacob before he arrived to pick her up. Normally, Esme preferred to do her grocery shopping solo, but since we were on a tight schedule and we couldn't move at our full pace, Jasper and I thought we'd help her out.

We weren't much help at all, actually. Neither one of us had ever set foot in a supermarket before. We didn't eat that kind of food, and large-scale supermarkets hadn't existed when either one of us was turned. Jasper kept finding the most brightly-colored packages and reading them intently, trying to decide if it sounded like something Nessie might like. I was just floored by the array of foods available. Who knew humans had so many options? How was it possible that any of them stayed at a reasonable weight when there were so many types of food to sample? And why the hell were there so many kinds of breakfast cereal that it took up an entire aisle by itself?

Jasper picked up a box of Count Chocula. "Nessie needs this."

Esme rolled her eyes. "She's not going to eat cereal on a picnic at the beach."

"Well she needs it at home then!" Jasper insisted, shoving it into the cart. Esme didn't bother arguing. If Nessie didn't like it, Jacob or Seth would eat it, vampire box art notwithstanding.

Esme stopped at the deli and bought a ton of different meats and cheeses. "I'm throwing a party," she said dismissively when the clerk gave her a strange look. "And my little brother is developmentally disabled," she added upon seeing how I had my face pressed against the glass to get a better look at the difference between Virginia Baked Ham and Hickory Smoked Ham.

In a much quieter voice, she told me that I should make myself useful by getting some bread. "And take your brother with you," she hissed. I turned around and found Jasper furrowing his brow, trying to figure out the difference between ketchup and catsup.

"Come on, we're going to get some bread!" I informed him.

"It looks like blood," Jasper mumbled, stuffing both bottles back onto the shelf.

We slowly made our way to the bakery, stopping to ponder why salads needed to be dressed in dozens of different colors and exactly what the difference between Coke and Pepsi could possibly be.

"Um, Emmett?" Jasper had a look of mild horror on his face. "Did Esme say what _kind_ of bread we should get?"

I had no idea there were so many different types of bread.

We stood and gaped for awhile before we finally realized that there was an entire section of bread specifically labeled for sandwiches. Unfortunately, that only narrowed our search slightly.

"This one says 'premium,'" Jasper pointed out.

"Yeah, but there's 12 different varieties," I told him. "Even with all the meat and cheese Esme's buying, we probably don't need that many loaves."

"Excuse me," Jasper said politely to a store employee stocking a shelf nearby. "What kind of bread would you recommend for a teenage girl and her boyfriend?"

While Jasper tried to look less insane to the poor clerk who was just trying to do her job, I wandered over to look at the huge case of doughnuts that had caught my eye. I hastily packed a couple of boxes, deciding that pastries were _definitely_ called for on this occasion. After Jasper finally convinced the clerk that he really _was _just inept enough to be incapable of choosing bread without help, he returned to me with two loaves of white bread and two loaves of wheat bread tucked under his arms. He was holding them gingerly, as if he were afraid that they might spew out of the bags and worm their way into his mouth.

We caught up with Esme, who was busy trying to look as if the case of soda (apparently, Jacob preferred one brand over the other for some reason) was actually heavy enough to cause her difficulty loading it into the cart. She cast a suspicious glance at us for our selections, but sighed and told us to just put them in the cart.

The three of us finished our shopping trip without further incident, although that was due mostly to the fact that Esme had picked up everything else she needed while we were busy figuring out what kind of bread to get. I had a hunch that she'd planned it that way. Loading the groceries into the Jeep was an easy task. We understood how that part worked.

A short time later, we were back at home, and as we were putting the mountain of food on the kitchen counter, I had the distinct feeling that Esme would not be asking us along the next time she went to the grocery store.

"Do you want some help putting the kids' lunches together?" I asked politely.

"No!" Esme said, a bit too quickly. "No boys, you've helped plenty today," she said more calmly. "Why don't you go play your games and decide if you're going to have that tournament of yours? I'll get Edward and Bella to help."

At the sound of their names, the two of them appeared in the kitchen and began tearing through the bags rapid-fire looking for specific items and assembling sandwiches. I was in awe of their ability to comprehend what kind of food went where in light of what I'd just seen, but Bella had done a lot of the shopping when she was human, which had only been a few years ago. She'd never un-learned how to do any of it, since she'd had a daughter to feed immediately. Edward was almost as good at it as she was, but that made sense too, because he'd learned how to prepare food for Bella while she was human. Now that I thought about it, I wasn't sure that I wanted to be invited along on the next trip to the supermarket either.

"Count Chocula?" Edward asked, amused. He chuckled aloud, probably in response to some stray thought of Esme's about how the box had gotten there.

"That's a lot of bread," Bella remarked. A split second later, Edward was laughing again.

"I'm pretty sure we're being made fun of," Jasper whispered under his breath.

"That's okay. As long as they're making fun of us, they're leaving somebody else alone."

"Okay, come on now," Bella called in a shrill voice. "Why exactly did somebody buy two dozen bear claws?"

Esme turned on her heel and walked out of the kitchen.


	3. Family

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Three - Family

Jasper and I had just settled in to a lengthy game when the unmistakable sound of Jacob's Rabbit became evident. Nessie still wasn't even awake yet. Rose had purposely sanctioned herself to the garage where she wouldn't be forced to endure Jacob's presence. Bella darted upstairs to get her daughter out of bed while Edward finished cramming the last of the sandwiches into the oversized cooler that just barely fit into the backseat of the Rabbit. Faintly, I could hear Rosalie muttering that she couldn't believe Jacob hadn't gotten a more suitable vehicle by now. If Jacob wasn't so dead-set against accepting any of our money, I was fairly certain that Edward and Bella would have outfitted him with something a little flashier.

Jacob burst in the front door as if he'd been invited in. Truly, he had a long-standing invitation into our house, so there was no reason for him to knock. I immediately noted that the dog stench was a little more overpowering than usual and turned my attention to the front door, where Seth was hanging back nervously.

"Hey Seth, what are you doing here?" I asked cheerfully.

"I asked Jacob to bring me. You guys have all the expansions for Call of Duty, don't you? It's okay, isn't it?" Seth was trying not to sound overly eager, but he was failing.

"Of course we do, and of course it is," I answered, scooting over to make room for the gigantic teenager on the couch. He bounded in and flopped down, grabbing one of the extra controllers out of the hidden drawer in the elegant wooden end table.

"You might as well join us too, Jacob. Bella's getting Nessie out of bed, she'll probably be a few minutes," Jasper called. Jacob was less enthusiastic than Seth had been, but he sauntered over and sat gingerly in the recliner on the other side of the table. Seth reached in to grab another controller and tossed it carelessly to Jacob, who caught it without even seeming to look.

"How do you play this one?" Jacob asked, staring at his thumbs as if he were unsure that they would function correctly for the game.

"It's easy, you just shoot everything that isn't one of your teammates," Seth told him.

"Shoot people?" Jacob said uncertainly.

I rolled my eyes at him. "It's a _game_, Jacob. They're not real people. You can pretend they're vampires, if that helps. Non-Cullen vampires, of course."

Jacob grinned. "Of course," he replied. "But if they were vampires, shooting wouldn't do any good, would it?"

"We'd better let Jacob use the flamethrower," Seth remarked.

I restarted the game on an easier mode so that Jacob wouldn't get owned too much by the in-game characters. Unfortunately, that didn't leave him with a lot of targets to pick off. Seth, Jasper, and I were all experts at the game, and most of the targets were dead before they even finished appearing on the screen. Jacob kept squirming and ducking as if he were terrified of being shot in real life. It was pretty entertaining, watching his character run around like a sissy when he himself was literally an Alpha dog.

"Ahhhh I keep getting shot at!" he complained.

"Shoot back," Seth told him.

Upstairs, I could hear Bella hurriedly brushing through Nessie's hair and pulling clothes out of her closet while Nessie argued sleepily with her choice of clothing. Alice, who had been sitting at the computer doing some light shopping (light shopping for Alice anyway), decided that her services were needed and headed upstairs as well.

Edward came up behind us and started trying to give Jacob pointers. "You're overthinking it," he told him.

"Get out of my head!" Jacob told him.

"This isn't because I'm in your head," Edward rolled his eyes as he spoke. "Anyone could see that this is a game of reflexes."

"Nah, there's a lot of strategy involved too," I told him. Edward wasn't one to play games very often with us, even though he was pretty good at it when he gave it a chance. He was particularly helpful in co-op mode, since he could pick everyone else's targets out of their heads and pick off everything else. When it came to versus mode though, he cheated.

"I suppose that's true; I don't think about strategy much when I play," he remarked.

"That's because you can tell what everyone else is doing. The rest of us have to actually _try_ to work together," I ribbed him.

Edward shrugged. "I can't help it if I was built for working with others."

"Hey, since we're going to be here for a few more minutes," Jacob paused the game, much to everyone else's annoyance, "do you suppose Blondie could take a quick look at my car? I tweaked the engine a little last week to make it accelerate faster, and now it's making a funny noise and I haven't been able to figure out why." Jacob was nearly as gifted of a mechanic as Rosalie, but even he had to admit that she was better at it.

"I'll go ask her. Edward, take over for me," I said, getting up from the couch and holding out one hand for Jacob's keys while holding out my controller to Edward with the other. Edward accepted the controller and took up my spot on the couch. Jacob handed me his keys and I headed out to the garage.

Rosalie's legs were sticking out from underneath Bella's Ferrari. Bella hardly ever drove the thing, but Rose could barely keep her hands off it all the same. For the past few months, Bella had been considering giving the car to Nessie and picking out something more low-key for herself, but she was afraid that Nessie might actually get hurt driving the thing.

"Hey babe," I said as Rose hauled herself out from underneath the car at hearing my approach. She was covered in oil and dirt from head to toe, which, from my vantage point, only served to make her more beautiful and adorable than ever. She was positively glowing because she was in her environment. Working on cars was one of her greatest joys in life. I couldn't resist the urge to wrap my left arm around her waist and cradle her face in my right hand, wiping a smudge from her cheek with my thumb.

"Emmett, you'll get dirty!" she scolded.

"Everybody says I have a dirty mind, so why shouldn't the rest of me match?" I flashed her a wicked grin and leaned in for a kiss. Despite her protests, she didn't put up any resistance. If I hadn't come here for a specific purpose, I was pretty certain we would have both lost all of our clothes in a few minutes and christened Bella's car.

I pulled away reluctantly after a few seconds. "Jacob wants to know if you can take a look at his Rabbit. He says he did something to tweak the engine and now it's making a weird noise."

She scoffed, trying to pretend that she was annoyed at the request, but I could tell from the gleam in her eyes that she was thrilled to actually have something to fix. "That's what happens when you let a canine work on a car. They don't have thumbs, you know. Bring it in, I'll see what I can do. I'd bring it in myself, but I don't want to make his seats any filthier than they already are."

I went out obediently to bring in the Rabbit. I paused for a second to listen to what was happening inside, and it seemed that Bella, Alice, and Nessie were involved in an argument over exactly what constituted appropriate attire for a picnic on the beach. _Still plenty of time,_ I thought. _It'll be awhile before they have that resolved._

I climbed into the Rabbit and started the engine. I couldn't hear anything wrong with it, at least not anything that wouldn't be expected out of a car this old, but I wasn't the one with the mechanical ear. I whipped the car around, probably more quickly than anyone ever had before, and the vehicle whined in protest but complied, pulling into the garage. Rosalie waved me to where she wanted the car parked and signaled when she wanted me to stop. She came up beside the car to give me further instructions.

"Put it in neutral and put on the parking brake. I need to hear it run for a few minutes." I did as she asked and then exited the vehicle. I watched her work in awe for a few minutes before realizing that I should probably go tell Jacob that she was working on it.

"I'm going to head back to the house," I called. "We've got a game going."

She waved a hand dismissively at me. I doubted she would have even taken much notice of my absence if I hadn't said anything. This was her element. I went back to the house again and told Jacob she was looking at it. I left out the part where she'd made a rude remark about him. I started to sit back down again when Jasper glanced up at me.

"You know, if Alice catches you looking like that, you'll be hearing about it for a month." I looked down at myself and realized that my shirt and pants both had noticeable smudges on them from my brief time with Rosalie in the garage.

"Guess I should go change," I answered. "I don't really want to be lectured. You guys keep playing, I'll join in when I get back." Edward leaned back against the couch again and continued playing.

As soon as I got to the top of the stairs, I became increasingly aware that this was not somewhere I wanted to be right now. I tried to duck into the room I shared with Rosalie, but Bella heard me coming up the stairs and grabbed my arm, not even pausing to notice the condition of my clothes.

"Emmett, you're a guy," she said, hauling me into the room where she was trying to stop Alice from playing Barbie Doll with her daughter.

"I am? Shoot, that explains so much!"

Bella narrowed her eyes at me. "We need a man's opinion."

"Emmett!" Alice scolded me. I should have known better than to hope I'd be able to sneak the stains past her. I could hear Jasper and Edward chuckling downstairs.

"Sorry Alice," I grinned. "I was out talking to Rose in the garage. I was on my way up here to change when Bella grabbed me."

Alice _tsked_ her disapproval, but accepted my apology for daring to appear in such inappropriate garments. She pointed at Nessie, who was dressed in a simple yellow-and-blue sundress with shoulder straps and a pair of sandals with ribbons that went partway up her calves. The dress was a little more low-cut than I would've preferred on my niece, but it was nothing compared to what Alice and Rosalie wore on a regular basis.

"Bella thinks she needs a sweater to cover up. I think Bella is being old-fashioned and a bit prudish, if I say so myself."

"Sounds like you just did say so yourself," I remarked. "It looks fine."

"Wait!" Bella interrupted, and Alice's look of triumph faded immediately. Bella grabbed a white sweater and threw it to Nessie, who pulled it on obediently. The sweater covered her shoulders and most of her exposed upper chest area.

"That looks fine too," I said.

"See?" Bella crossed her arms over her chest and adopted a smug expression.

"See what?" Alice argued. "He said it looked fine the other way too!"

"I told you she didn't have to have her goodies displayed all over the place for a man to think she looked nice!" Bella retorted.

"He's just saying that because she's his niece. He wouldn't think it looked fine that way if Rosalie was wearing it!"

Nessie looked at me helplessly, and I gave her a shrug and tried to retreat out of the room. Alice grabbed my arm before I had a chance.

"Don't you think it's going to be too hot on the beach for a sweater?" She looked at me with her pleading doe-eyes and blinked. I grunted noncommittally. Alice's eyes went out of focus for a moment, then they snapped back to normal. "See? He thinks it's too hot for a sweater!"

"He didn't even say anything!" Bella screeched.

"But he was _going_ to!"

I was never so grateful in my entire life as I was when I heard Edward coming up the stairs behind me, presumably to break up the fight.

"Renesmee, wear the sweater," he said as soon as he entered the room.

"But Edward—" Nessie started to protest.

"No buts. Wear the sweater."

Alice closed her eyes briefly, then opened them and pouted. "He's got his mind made up, Nessie." She closed her eyes again and broke into a grin. Edward pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

"If you take it off as soon as you get to the beach, I'll know," he told her in his best fatherly scolding voice.

"Fine, I'll just roast to death on the beach in the middle of August walking alongside a werewolf. When I melt in a puddle, you guys can come collect it in keep it in a little jar. Maybe you can build sandcastles out of it."

"Renesmee, stop being such a drama queen!" Bella told her firmly.

As far as I was concerned, this was _definitely_ my cue to leave. I backed out of the room, and fortunately no one stopped me this time. I could hear the three of them continuing to argue. Edward's suggestion was that they find a different dress altogether, one that wasn't quite so revealing and wouldn't need a sweater. Alice disagreed with this assessment, feeling that this dress was absolutely perfect for a beach picnic. Bella didn't see why on Earth Nessie couldn't be happy just wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Nessie groaned at that suggestion, and the four of them were all yelling at once.

I was glad I didn't need a whole committee to discuss my clothes as I changed rapidly. I didn't bother stuffing my old clothes into the laundry pile. Alice hardly ever let us wear the same thing twice as it was; there was no way she'd even consider letting me wear stained clothes again. I stuffed them into the garbage instead, since they weren't really even suitable for donation. As quietly as I could manage, I tiptoed back downstairs, hoping that no one would drag me back into the argument again.

"Hey, you're back!" Seth called out gleefully. "What happened to Edward?"

"Don't go upstairs. It's very dangerous." I told them solemnly.

"Dangerous?" Jacob leaped out of his chair, shaking. He was ready to dart upstairs and pull Nessie away from whatever terror lurked there.

"I think Nessie will be all right," I calmed Jacob down. "She's arguing with Alice, Bella, and Edward over what constitutes appropriate attire for a young lady with a male companion on the beach on a summer day."

"Oh," Jacob was relieved as he sank back into the chair. "This could take awhile."

"My sentiments exactly." I sat back down and picked up my controller again. "Where were we?"

"Jacob was getting his ass kicked," Seth told me.

"I was not! I just don't have as much practice as you guys! _Some_ of us need to sleep!"

"I need to sleep too," Seth told him.

"Some of us don't spend every spare minute with the Adams Family," Jacob retorted, eliciting a dirty look from both Jasper and me. "Sorry," he amended. "I do like that Wednesday Adams a lot," he added with a grin.

We played for a little while longer before Rosalie arrived at the front door, wiping her feet on the doormat before entering. She was coated in even more grease than she'd been before. "I fixed your car," she told Jacob.

"What was wrong with it?" Jacob turned to look at Rosalie and immediately turned back away, chuckling.

"Exactly what I expected. You had a screw loose." She tossed his keys back at him and he snatched them out of the air without looking.

"Thanks, Blondie!" he called over his shoulder, sounding genuinely appreciative.

Rosalie peeled off her overalls and headed upstairs to wash up and change clothes. "Careful up there," I warned her. "Edward and Bella are involved in a four-way no-holds-barred death match with Alice and Nessie about what she should wear."

Rosalie scoffed and headed upstairs despite my warning. I shook my head and returned my attention back to the game. Upstairs, I heard Alice let out a shriek and realized she must have seen my wife. Jasper buried his face in his hands.

"Maybe I should go up there to try to calm everyone down," he remarked.

"It's your funeral," I told him.

Jasper hesitated for a few seconds, then ultimately seemed to think better of it. "Nah, we're right in the middle of a game."

"Wise decision," Seth piped up without lifting his eyes from the screen. "If you go up there, you might never come back."

Strange as we could be at times, this was my family, and I loved them all dearly. Even Edward. Sure, I gave the guy a hard time pretty regularly, but when he'd left us a few years ago during his "I can't be near Bella" phase, I don't think anyone had missed him as much as I had. Maybe Esme.

As soon as I thought of Esme, I realized I hadn't seen her since the shopping incident this morning. I hoped she was still cheered up. Come to think of it, I hadn't seen Carlisle all day. They were probably holed up in Carlisle's study, trying to find out the truth behind Alice's vision yesterday. The thought made me a little uneasy. The fact that they hadn't emerged yet to tell us the good news meant they hadn't found any yet.

Jasper sensed my discontent immediately and shot me a questioning look. I shook my head slightly to let him know that now was not the time to talk about it, not with the wolves in the room. He nodded and calmed me down right away, which I was grateful for. As much as I tried to keep everyone from worrying, even I wasn't immune to a bout of concern now and again, especially if my family might actually be in trouble.

I couldn't stand the idea of losing any of them. Alice, who entertained us with her constant cheer. Jasper, the only one who I could really let loose with and be myself. Edward, who had most of the brains in the family and managed to think things through, using the rest of our thoughts as needed. Bella, whose love had redeemed Edward and who had been the only one who ever stood up to Alice for any length of time. Nessie, who'd given us all someone to look after and who had managed to wrap eight vampires around her little finger with room to spare for a whole pack of werewolves. Esme, who gave us all her unconditional love. Carlisle, without whom we wouldn't be a family, and whose compassion was absolutely contagious. Most of all, my Rosalie, who could be incredibly stubborn, but was the center of my entire universe. Losing her was so completely and utterly unthinkable that my mind refused to even consider the idea. My thoughts shut down and my attention turned fully back to the game I was playing.

A little while later, Nessie finally came down the stairs with the others in tow. Rose had managed to slip away long enough to shower and change, but I could tell that she'd been involved in the argument. Nessie was still wearing the sundress, but instead of Bella's stuffy-looking sweater, she had a shawl of Rosalie's draped around her shoulders. It was made out of a lightweight-looking fabric, and it covered her a little without being as cumbersome as the sweater. I was glad my wife had managed to help them reach a compromise before we all lost our minds.

"Nessie, you look great!" Jacob was on his feet and at her side more swiftly than I would have thought he could move in his human form. Bella scowled at Jacob's use of Nessie's nickname. Jacob was the only one who could actually get away with using that name in front of Bella, even though Nessie herself preferred to be called that.

"Thank you," she replied graciously. "Are you ready to go?"

"If you are," he replied. Nessie nodded, and Jacob picked up the cooler in the kitchen. The two of them headed for the front door.

"Make sure she's back early," Bella called. "We're dying her hair tonight."

"It'll be a shame when her hair isn't this color anymore," Jacob remarked. "But she'll be beautiful no matter what," he added. Nessie blushed a little and followed Jacob out the door.

"Phew," Bella said, sinking into the loveseat in the corner. "I thought we'd never get her dressed."

"You're welcome," Rosalie said haughtily.

"Thanks, Rosalie. That wrap was perfect," Alice piped up. "One of these days, Edward and Bella are just going to have to let her grow up."

Rosalie looked a little sad at Alice's last statement, but chased it away quickly. Even Jasper didn't seem to pick up on her feelings before they'd vanished. Poor Rosalie. She'd been so happy when Nessie had been born, but she hadn't stayed a child nearly long enough. Rosalie wasn't ready to let go yet any more than Edward and Bella were.

Carlisle and Esme finally came into the room a short time later looking grim. "Something is strange," Carlisle said. "I spoke with Tanya, and I got the distinct impression that she was keeping something from me. Every time I tried to bring up the subject I wanted to speak to her about, she quickly started talking about some other subject before I had a chance to ask her anything. Finally, I decided to invite her over to see if Edward could get any more information out of her. She seemed very reluctant, but eventually agreed to stop by with Kate in a few days. I asked about Carmen and Eleazar, but she insisted that only she and Kate were available. It was the best I could do, but it was definitely very strange."

"That isn't like Tayna," Edward remarked, frowning. "She's usually so forthcoming with information."

"I agree," Carlisle confirmed. "It has me very concerned. But I suppose all we can do at the moment is wait."

Seth raised an eyebrow. I had momentarily forgotten that he was still in the room. "More vampires coming for a visit?"

"It's okay, Seth," Bella told him. "They're the ones who are like us."

"All right," Seth answered suspiciously. "But Jacob and Sam will probably still want to raise security while they're here."

"Of course," Carlisle answered. "You should do whatever you feel is necessary. I promise you though, Tanya and Kate will not pose a threat to any humans."

Seth looked like he wanted to say something else, but seemed to think better of it. He returned his attention to the game. Edward exchanged a meaningful look with Carlisle, and they suddenly decided to take a walk outside, probably to discuss whatever had just been on Seth's mind.

Whatever was going on, if it _was_ something serious, we couldn't really afford to keep it from the wolves for long. They were our friends, our allies, perhaps even our family. Whatever affected us, it was bound to affect them as well. Yet there was no point in telling them our concerns until we had something concrete to tell them. Hopefully, once Tanya and Kate arrived in a few days, we would have a better idea of what we were facing.


	4. Mittens

**A great big thank you, thank you to those of you who have taken the time to review! I've had a ton of favorites and story alerts, which makes me feel awesome and all, but the reviews make me go SQUEEEEEEEE when I get them. :) Anyway, I'm still just getting started, so I don't expect a lot of attention just yet. **

**I didn't throw a lot of humor into my last story, but I'm amazed at how easily it comes when writing from Emmett's POV. I don't mean for this story to be a Nessie-a-thon either; I've just had to do a lot to establish what my version of Nessie is like, since she varies so much from one story to another. There will be a definite shift away from her soon, but she'll still have a role in things.**

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Four - Mittens

Seth was still thrilled about the idea of a vampires versus werewolves tournament, but if playing with Jacob had shown me anything, it was that the werewolves really didn't have anywhere near as much practice as we did. I suggested that, in the spirit of fairness, we should probably try to find something that none of us had played before if we were really going to put on a tournament. Seth was concerned that we'd cheat—he trusted my family well enough, but we were still mortal enemies, after all.

"So we'll go shopping together, you can pick out a game, and you can take it home with you and keep it there until the day of the tournament," I suggested.

"That works," Seth was amicable in his response, "but let's wait until the night before the tournament. That way, you won't have time to just buy another copy of the game and stay up all night practicing while us non-vampires have to sleep."

Jasper was offended by Seth's insinuation, but I laughed it off before he had time to say anything. "Fair enough, kid. When do you want to do this?"

"Well, some of the younger kids in the pack start school in a couple of weeks. Their parents probably won't like them spending an entire day playing video games once their classes start up again. Of course, I don't know how many of their parents will let them come to your house _anyway_, but just in case, maybe we should try for next week?"

"Esme, do you think we could be ready next week for an all day vampires and werewolves gaming tournament?" I called over my shoulder to my mother.

"That's fine, dear," she replied, already making notes of what kind of food she would need to purchase and in what insane quantities. I assumed she'd be bringing Bella and Nessie to help her with this task, or possibly Edward. Definitely not Jasper and me.

A week wasn't a lot of time to prepare, but the timing might be just perfect, depending on what we found out from Tanya and Kate. If something major was afoot, having a quick bonding session with the wolves might strengthen our alliance in time for a big battle. If it turned out to be nothing important, it could prove to be a great way to blow off steam after worrying over nothing.

"Okay, now let's talk fairness. How many wolves are you going to be bringing?" I asked.

"I don't know," Seth answered cheerfully. "I'll have to find out how many would want to come."

"Well, there's only three of us. Four, if you'll let us count a half-vampire on our team."

Seth looked wounded by my response. "You've got to be kidding me. There's nine of you!"

"But only Jasper, Edward, Nessie and I play," I told him reasonably. "And I don't know if you'll count Nessie as a vampire or not."

"Well she's definitely not a wolf, is she?" Seth replied, grinning. "But if we're gonna do this, we have to do it right. You can't just put up your best players against us, not when I'm the only wolf who plays. A lot of the guys from the res have never even seen a modern gaming system."

I was sure my face must have looked horrified. "Surely you're not suggesting—"

"Well if you're _afraid_ of being dragged down too much..." Seth interrupted, allowing his voice to trail off at the end.

That was all it took. A growl rumbled throughout my chest and escaped from my throat. I had never backed down from a challenge as long as I'd existed. I wasn't about to start now.

"Emmett?" Bella sounded extremely nervous by the course this conversation was taking.

"Come on Bella, it's not going to kill you to spend a few hours playing a game," I pleaded.

"Of course we'll join you," Alice answered cheerfully on behalf of herself, Bella, Rosalie, Esme, and Carlisle. Rosalie and Bella didn't look thrilled in the slightest, and Carlisle was still outside chatting with Edward. "What? You didn't think we'd let the boys have _all_ the fun, did you?"

I wasn't paying attention to the rest of their bickering. I was staring straight at Rosalie, trying to decipher what she was thinking from the look on her face. At first, she had seemed horrified by the suggestion that she would join in what she'd always seen as a child's game. Then, once Alice had said the magic words about letting the boys have all the fun, she seemed to accept the challenge.

"Give me that," she snapped, snatching up the extra controller that Jacob had abandoned when he left for his picnic with Nessie. "You," she grunted at Seth. "Over there," she said, pointing to the recliner.

"Oooh, this should be good!" Seth teased her, but obeyed her wishes by moving so that Rosalie could sit next to me on the couch.

"Ugh, the couch reeks of dog, and so does this controller," Rose complained. "Never mind, I'll deal with it," she scolded me as I tried to offer to swap controllers with her. "Let's play."

For somebody who'd never picked up a video game in her life, Rosalie was surprisingly good at it. I guessed that some combination of vampire dexterity plus the years of working with mechanical things had granted her the ability to pick up on what to do quickly.

"Enough of this child's play," she announced after a minute. "How do I shoot you guys?"

"Rose, I don't think—" I started. An icy glare from her squelched my protest before I was even finished voicing it. I restarted the game again in versus mode. Suddenly, I had a terrible feeling of doom overtaking me.

"Stop it, Jasper. You're cheating," Rosalie scolded.

"Had to try it," he grinned, and the feeling went away instantly.

We played a few rounds, but Seth and Jasper kept ganging up on Rosalie, which I didn't appreciate in the slightest. She was irritated, so when I had a clear shot at her, I didn't take it, running off in another direction to look for one of the other two instead. My sacrifice was promptly repaid by my own wife shooting me down in cold blood. I didn't have the heart to tell her that her victory hadn't been entirely fairly won, she was so pleased with herself.

I really wanted to know what Edward and Carlisle were up to outside for so long, but I didn't want to say anything that might tip Seth off. "Anyone else want to try?" I asked casually. "Alice? Bella?"

Alice shut her eyes. "Bella, I didn't know you knew how to play video games!" She sounded astonished when she opened her eyes.

"Yeah, well, there was this game I used to play a lot when I was a kid. You drove around a racetrack and you could be a plumber, a princess, a turtle—"

"You played Mario Kart, Bella. This is different," Jasper chuckled.

Bella chewed nervously on her lower lip before accepting the controller from my outstretched hand and moving gracefully to occupy my spot on the couch. "Graceful" was not a word I would have used to describe Bella eight years ago, unless it was modified with the word "opposite." Being a vampire really seemed to suit her. Even though I would sooner have my eyeballs ripped out and set on fire than admit it to Rosalie, I believed that Bella might have somehow found her way to this life even if she'd never met Edward.

I moved out the back door and caught Edward's and Carlisle's scents fairly quickly. I darted off in their direction and found them in the woods nearby. They had noticed me approaching, of course, but they didn't pause their conversation to wait for me to catch up.

"What's going on?" I interrupted them.

"Seth suspects something, naturally," Edward answered matter-of-factly. Carlisle was trying not to appear worried, and he might have even managed to pull of his deception to anyone who hadn't spent eighty years living with him, but it wasn't working on me.

"The question isn't so much whether Seth suspects something as what the wolves will do about it once he shares his suspicions with them," Carlisle added.

"Which he won't be able to keep himself from doing, even if he tried," I finished. "Maybe we should just tell Jacob what's going on when he and Nessie get back."

"We considered that," Edward acknowledged, tilting his head in my direction. "Our concern is that they may overreact. We're trying to maintain a sense of calm until we have a better idea of what's going on. We know that the wolves are less... refined than we are when it comes to controlling their baser emotions."

I was getting frustrated by all the secrecy. I understood and agreed with the reasons why we had to keep our true nature a secret, why we had to move every few years, why we had to avoid calling attention to ourselves in any way. I'd even understood why we'd tried to keep Nessie a secret from others of our kind who weren't known allies until she was finished growing. She was too easily mistaken for something she wasn't. There weren't a lot of vampire laws, but creating an immortal child was one of the few that had absolutely no lenience. But the wolves _were_ known allies. Why did we need to keep secrets from them, especially when they were secrets that might actually involve them if we were to ask them to fight alongside us later?

Instead of voicing all of these thoughts, although I knew Edward heard them loud and clear, what I actually said was, "What exactly is it that you're worried about them doing? They're not going to leave the immediate area. It's not as if they're going to storm Italy and try to take on the Volturi themselves. The only vampires around here are us, and they're not going to turn on us because there _might_ be some unspecified problem that we don't even know what it is."

"Do you honestly think that Jacob wouldn't move to move Renesmee to a safe haven if he believed there was a threat?" Edward asked me. The pain was evident in his eyes. He'd known he would be losing Nessie, in a manner of speaking, one day, but he wasn't ready for it to be now, and he wasn't ready for it to be without his consent. "If there truly _does_ turn out to be a threat, then I will be more than happy to discuss moving Renesmee to safety. Until then, I have no desire to disrupt her life."

"They never tried to move their other imprints away when the Volturi came," I pointed out.

"Their other imprints do not possess special talents that the Volturi might want," Edward answered.

"But if Aro isn't in charge of the Volturi anymore—"

"We don't know where Aro is or what he's doing," Carlisle spoke up once more. "Until we do, there's little purpose to second-guessing ourselves. Still, as a show of good faith, I believe we should fill Jacob's pack in on the situation as we know it. Once he believes that we're deliberately keeping something from him, he may interpret that as a sign of hostility."

Edward sighed his reluctant agreement, and the three of us went back to the house together. While we were gone, Alice had taken over Jasper's controller, and the three girls were beating up on Seth rather admirably in the game.

"Alice cheats," Seth lamented. "She knows where I'm going to be before I'm there!"

"I can't see your decisions, remember?" Alice replied sweetly. "You're just mad that you're getting beaten by girls."

The game continued for a few more hours with players being rotated in and out. Carlisle and Esme even consented to play for a brief round, since they were going to be involved in the tournament next week in the spirit of cooperation with the wolves. Out of everyone, it was by far Carlisle who was the worst at the game. He was such a refined, compassionate man; skulking around and hiding in corners to shoot at enemy players just didn't make any sense to him, but he gave it his best try all the same.

Eventually, Nessie and Jacob got home. I glanced at Edward, who was gripping the sides of his chair nervously. Carlisle drew himself up straight for the conversation that was about to ensue.

"What's that smell?" Rosalie asked, wrinkling her nose.

"Yes, the wolves stink, we get it Rosalie," Bella shot at her, both with her words and in the game.

"No, I'm not talking about Renesmee's pet dog," Rose replied, ignoring Seth's look of minor irritation. "There's something else. Don't you smell that?"

It was a funny sight, actually. Eight vampires and one werewolf who, at the moment, looked like a gigantic human simultaneously tilted their heads in the air and started sniffing, cringing at the smell of one another, but trying to pick out the additional scent.

We hadn't quite finished placing what it was before Nessie skipped in, gleefully holding a tiny kitten. "Isn't he cute? I found him on the beach and he didn't have a collar or anything, he was so hungry! I named him Mittens. Can I keep him, Bella, Edward? Please?"

Bella got up cautiously from the couch and approached her daughter. The feline started to hiss and tried to climb up Nessie's arm to get away. Animals didn't exactly like us much, although this one certainly didn't seem to mind Nessie. As soon as Bella was close enough to reach out a hand toward the cat, it dug its claws into Nessie's shoulder, scratching three long marks into her skin.

Three things happened at once. Mittens leapt down from Nessie's shoulder and darted off into the house, too fast for any of us to even notice where he'd gone. All eight of us cut off our air supply simultaneously. Nessie didn't ordinarily smell the least bit like food to us, but with a bleeding wound, we couldn't take any chances. Lastly, Jacob leapt in front of Nessie and turned into a wolf, growling a warning to keep us all at bay.

In the process of this, Bella got knocked backward into a table and shattered it. How very reminiscent of her eighteenth birthday, except that this time she wasn't injured. Nessie let out a string of curse words that ordinarily would have earned her a tongue-lashing, but neither Edward nor Bella had enough air in their lungs to chastise her. Carlisle stepped forward to take Nessie into his office to look at the wound. Jacob growled, showing all of his teeth.

"Jacob will you just let him through?" Nessie moaned. "Out of everyone here, Carlisle is the _least_ likely to hurt me. That includes you and Seth."

Jacob craned his enormous head around to stare at his imprint. She glared impatiently at him, tapping her foot in annoyance while keeping a hand clamped over her shoulder. Since it was what she wanted, and he was utterly incapable of defying her, he snorted and stepped to the side. Carlisle took Nessie by her uninjured arm and guided her into his office. The rest of us started to breathe again as soon as she was out of the room.

We hadn't been paying attention to Seth as he'd ducked into the kitchen to pull off his clothes and change into his wolf form as well. He and Jacob were coordinating to search the house for Mittens, since the rest of us wouldn't be able to get near the tiny animal. Super, they were both in their wolf forms. That meant Jacob would know any second that we'd been trying to keep a secret from the pack.

Edward shook his head slightly at me to let me know that it hadn't happened yet, but he looked extraordinarily worried. Whether it was because of his daughter, who had obviously not been seriously injured, or because Seth _would_ soon be filling him in on the mysterious conversation we'd had earlier, I wasn't certain. Or hell, maybe it was because there was a kitten running around the house. That was actually a little disconcerting. The house wasn't exactly pet-proof. The poor thing would probably break something, or get hurt, or both.

"Never a dull moment," I said to break the tension. I crossed the room to help Bella clean up the mess from the table.

"Sorry Esme," she murmured. "I keep breaking your nice glass tables. With my torso."

Esme waved her hand dismissively. "At least this time you weren't hurt, dear. Besides, now I have an excuse to go shopping for new furniture."

Nessie and Carlisle emerged from his office a few seconds later. Nessie had a bandage on her shoulder. "The scratch wasn't deep," Carlisle informed Edward. "I cleaned it off and put some ointment on it. At the rate she heals, the bandage should be able to come off in an hour or two."

"Thank you, Carlisle. Now, young lady, would you mind telling me exactly what you were thinking, bringing a cat into a house full of vampires?" He turned his attention immediately to Nessie, who looked as if she'd rather be doing anything in the world than answering that question.

"I—I don't know," she answered, her eyes welling up with tears. "He was so cute and cuddly and he followed me and Jacob all over the beach. He doesn't have anywhere else to go, Edward." The tears started to spill over, and her face was becoming red and puffy. "I don't want him to die. Edward, he'll die! No one's looking after him!"

Bella's forehead was puckering with concern, and Edward looked like his dead heart was breaking as his daughter pleaded for the life of the kitten hiding somewhere in the house. As interested as I was in the outcome of this discussion, I was much more interested in _not_ seeing Jacob's privates when he shifted back into his human form. I trudged upstairs to find him some clothes, since I was the one closest to his size. I made a mental note to ask Alice to keep some clothes on hand in Jacob's size. It wasn't as if he erupted randomly into wolf form often, but it would be a good idea to have a contingency plan. I briefly considered giving him the stained clothes I'd shoved into the garbage earlier. I grinned at that idea, but decided against it. We were, after all, trying to put forth an air of good will with the wolves. I rummaged through a few drawers until I came up with a pair of shorts that wouldn't seem obviously too short for Jacob and a polo shirt in a color I hadn't particularly cared for. One of the wolves was in Edward's room, clumsily knocking things around as he looked for the cat. It was a good thing that most of Edward's most beloved possessions had been moved to the cottage by then. The room primarily served as a guest room for when Nessie spent the night, and she didn't keep anything she absolutely loved in there either.

As I approached the stairs, I heard the conversation between Nessie and her parents winding down. "I still don't think it's right to ask him to do that, Renesmee, but if it's all right with Jacob, then I suppose it's all right with me," Bella was telling her. Nessie was apparently happy with that answer, because she started squealing and clapping her hands while jumping up and down in one spot.

A few minutes later, Seth started down the stairs holding the kitten in his mouth by the scuff of its neck. We all allowed him a wide berth so that Mittens wouldn't try to escape upon getting too near to us. Nessie stepped forward and took the kitten from him, retreating into a corner of the house to whisper soothingly to the feline.

I tossed my clothes to Jacob, and he and Seth ducked into another room to phase back and get dressed. When they returned to the room, Carlisle opened his mouth to speak, but before he had a chance, Nessie was pleading with Jacob.

"Jacob, please, can I please keep Mittens at your house? Please?" She batted her eyelashes at him, as if that was even needed to get him to do her bidding. Nonetheless, he looked warily at the kitten. He seemed harmless enough, curled up in Nessie's lap and purring while he licked at his front paw. Still, I couldn't stop myself from laughing at the look of sheer horror that crossed Jacob's features, as if the idea of caring for a pet kitten was the most terrifying thing he'd ever done. Fight off an army of newborns? Sure. Fight off the leaders of the vampires? No problem. Feed a kitten? No way. That was too much to ask.

"I don't know, Nessie..." Jacob's voice trailed off as Nessie stuck out her lower lip.

"Please?" she said again, holding up the kitten and waving its front paw at Jacob. "Hi Jacob, we're gonna be the best of friends!" she said in a high pitched voice.

Jacob sighed. He'd been beaten. Nessie knew it too. She started talking to Mittens about all of the things they were going to have to stop off and buy for him before they took him to Jacob's house.

"Jacob, there's a matter we'd like to discuss with you," Carlisle said solemnly.

"Other than the fact that I have to explain to my dad why he has to try to avoid rolling over a kitten with his wheelchair?" Jacob muttered bitterly.

"...and a three-story kitty house, and a whole pack of those little colorful balls, and..." Nessie was continuing in the background. I was beginning to wonder if Mittens's net worth wasn't already higher than Jacob's.

"I'm afraid so," Carlisle replied. "There is a matter of some concern to us right now. We don't have any details yet, so we'd like to avoid any type of overreaction right now. However, your pack has been allies of ours for a long time, and so we thought it was only fair to warn you if there is a possibility of danger."

"Spit it out already," Jacob snapped. Anyone could see that his annoyance wasn't really with Carlisle.

"...and a collar with a bell on it, and some toys that hang from the doorknobs and dangle down, and..."

"Aro disappeared from Alice's visions yesterday," Carlisle informed Jacob.

"Aro, he was the lee—the vampire who was in charge of that big coven we dealt with a few years ago?" Jacob asked.

Carlisle nodded. "The very same. We don't know what this could mean yet. It could mean that Aro is dead, or it could mean that he's found some means of evading Alice's visions. If he's dead, we don't know who killed him or why, which means we don't know what motives the Volturi might be operating under. If he's evading Alice's visions, it might mean they have a new type of shield available to them."

"Shield?" Jacob asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.

"Vampires with talents similar to Bella's are called shields," Edward answered. "The Volturi have one already. Her name is Renata. Her power works by confusing anyone who directly tries to attack the person she's shielding, which normally was always Aro."

"But it's only him that's disappeared, not the rest of them?" Jacob scratched his chin, deep in thought.

"Yes," Alice answered. "I've been watching the others ever since Aro vanished. I can see all of them, including Aro's wife. She seems happy, which makes me think he isn't dead."

"Well," Jacob said slowly, "is it possible that that Renata leech found a new way to use her powers?" We all cringed slightly when he failed to self-correct his use of the word "leech" this time, but no one said anything about it.

"It's extremely unlikely, but it does seem to be at least plausible," Carlisle allowed. "Since it is only one person who has vanished, and Renata has always been limited to one target, that seems to be one explanation. However, vampire talents don't often expand after their first few months or years of existence. Renata's gifts were likely to have been pushed to their limits long before Aro vanished. She is far from being a newborn vampire like Bella was when she discovered the true nature of her shield."

"Is there any danger to Nessie?" Jacob asked, cutting to the chase.

"We don't know," Carlisle answered honestly. "We hope to have more information in a few days. Some members of our extended family are coming for a visit. When I spoke to them this morning, I got the distinct impression that they know something they weren't sharing."

"More vampires visiting?" Jacob's sentiment echoed what Seth had said this morning.

"Yes, two of them. They are like us. You'll be able to tell from their eye color," Carlisle told him. "I understand if you and Sam feel that you need to increase the patrols of your respective packs, but we ask that you please do not harm Tanya and Kate."

"I think I remember those two," Jacob remarked. "The pretty blonde one and the electric lady?"

"Yes, those are them. Please remind your pack of what they look like so that they won't try to harm them when they visit. We really need to know what information they have so we can decide if any lives might be in danger." Carlisle confirmed.

"All right," Jacob said warily. "But we'd prefer if they aren't here long. We don't want any more of the younger kids starting to phase, and that's what happens when there's more vampires than just your family in town."

"They'll only be here for two days," Alice remarked. "I can't tell anything else about their visit. I can only see when they'll be leaving."

"All right," Jacob grunted. "I guess it can't be helped. Let us know as soon as you find out what's going on. Nessie," he called out, and the rest of us backed away to make room for her to get through with the kitten.

"Hurry back," Rosalie reminded her. "We still have to do your hair tonight."

"Oh," Nessie pouted. "But I wanted to spend time with Mittens."

"You can spend time with Mittens anytime," Bella told her. "We need to get your hair done tonight so it will fade into its proper shade before you start school."

"Okay, okay," Nessie muttered, clutching the kitten close to her as she, Jacob, and Seth went out the front door.

"That went better than expected," remarked Edward as soon as the three of them were out of earshot.

"I told you Jake was capable of talking rationally," Bella said smugly.

"I don't think it hurt that half of his mind was on the cat," Edward replied, smirking.

"Yeah, who knew our alliance would be saved by a kitten? Named Mittens?" I laughed.


	5. Sparring

**Just a side note for anyone who read my last story, in one chapter of that story, I used a different interpretation of the subject of vampire hair growth. I didn't realize at the time that Stephenie Meyer had specifically addressed that topic in an interview already. I admit that I still prefer my own idea that vampires' hair and fingernails WOULD continue to grow, being based on cellular regeneration. But I AM kind of a stickler for how things work in the canon world, so I have to go with SM's Word-Of-God on this one.**

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Five - Sparring

Nessie and the wolves hadn't even been gone for a minute when Alice and Rosalie started pulling bags of hair care products out of the closet and talking rapidly amongst themselves. They were trying to figure out exactly which items they would need and what the best way of tackling Nessie's hair would be. I don't know much about feminine rituals, but some of the stuff they were grabbing looked more like implements of destruction to me.

"Why exactly aren't you just taking her to a salon?" I wondered aloud. "It isn't as if we don't have money."

"Three reasons," Alice answered cheerfully. "First, her hair isn't exactly like human hair. It's close—much closer than ours is—but not exactly. The kids she'll be going to school with will never notice a difference, even if they touch her hair. But someone who handles hair for a living might be able to tell."

"Second," Rosalie chimed in, "if we have to keep taking her to the same place to have her hair recolored every few months as it grows back out, we run the risk of running into someone she's met at school. It might not raise any red flags for anyone to find out she colors her hair, but that's not a chance we can afford to take."

"And third," Alice added wistfully, "because Rosalie and I never get to do this kind of thing with our own hair, since it doesn't grow." As she spoke these words, she produced several plastic hair caps from one of the bags and flipped one to Rosalie. "Everyone has to wear these tonight just in case Nessie gets too close to them while she has dye in her hair. Otherwise we run the risk of having splotched hair for eternity, and I don't think any of us wants that." She chucked another cap in my direction and I stared at it in terror.

"Um. So Jasper, how about we give the girls some privacy for the night?" I struggled to think of an excuse to leave the house. It was too bad we'd just eaten in the morning.

Jasper picked up on my discomfort and quickly obliged. "Yeah, we should go sparring!"

Relieved, I tossed the cap back over to Alice. "Oh definitely, we've been out of practice, and who knows? We might have a fight on our hands soon, depending on what Tanya and Kate have to say. We should go hone our skills."

Rosalie rolled her eyes at me, but continued passing the plastic caps out to everyone else. Edward took his cap and gazed at it, then looked back at Alice and Rosalie, who were delightedly throwing all of their efforts into their project. Bella dutifully tried on her cap. I had no idea she could still make me laugh so much. She looked like she had a big pink mushroom on her head. Edward glowered at me for my thought, but couldn't manage to suppress a grin of his own when he took in his wife's appearance.

"If no one minds, I think I might join Emmett and Jasper tonight. I'm sure Renesmee has more than enough help with this project as it is," he said, throwing Bella an apologetic look.

"Fine, fine," Alice waved her hand dismissively at Edward.

"Well if you're joining us, you're gonna have to take on Jasper and me together! You cheat!" I told Edward jovially.

"I can't help it," he grimaced, but he didn't have a lot of options. He could come with us, or he could stay in and wear the pink mushroom hat.

Over the course of the next couple of hours, Alice and Rosalie had managed to turn the dining room into a fully functional salon. I had never been into a hair salon, but I'd seen enough of them on television to feel fairly certain that the two of them had bought more products and devices than most such places habitually kept on hand. They had a tendency to get a little carried away and throw themselves into a project, and this was no exception. Bella was trying to help, but every time she pulled something else out of a bag, she started to protest why this was needed just to color Nessie's hair. She looked especially hilarious with her typical look of worry, biting her lip and puckering her eyebrows so her skin dimpled in between them, but with a pink mushroom on her head. Before it was all said and done, the table was covered with two hair dryers, a hair straightener, a curling iron (I really couldn't imagine why they'd need both, but I kept my mouth shut), an assortment of clips, several different sizes and shapes of scissors, and dozens of bottles of different products whose contents I could only guess at.

Just as the girls were starting to get impatient, Jacob returned to drop Nessie back off at home. He came into the house for a moment, took one look at the dining room table, and immediately left, muttering something about needing to get some rest before running patrol that night.

"Gentlemen, I believe this is our cue," I told Jasper and Edward solemnly. "Carlisle, you feel like joining us? Guys night out!"

Surprisingly enough, Carlisle hesitated. I had expected him to shrug us off flatly. Esme seemed no less confused than I was. "Sweetie, if you'd like to join the boys, go ahead," she told him. "Everything's under control here."

"All right," Carlisle said slowly, "I think I could do with a night out."

I glanced over at Edward, but if he knew anything about Carlisle's sudden desire to go sparring with us, his expression didn't betray his knowledge. Fair enough. It would be fun to have Carlisle around anyway. I slapped him on the shoulder and welcomed him along.

The four of us traveled quite a bit further into the woods than I'd been planning on. I couldn't help getting the distinct feeling that everyone here knew something but me. Not having a clue what was going on, I decided to just stay quiet and wait for someone to bring up the topic of the day.

Once we had been running for about twenty minutes, we reached a small clearing and finally stopped. "Edward," Carlisle broke the silence. "Alice seemed upset a little while ago, and I don't think it was just because she can't see Aro any longer. Has something else happened?"

Alice was upset? I had missed it completely. She seemed like her usual cheerful self to me.

Jasper tossed Carlisle an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Carlisle. I didn't think anyone else had noticed. I started working on calming her down as soon as she started to get anxious." Well, that explained why I hadn't noticed anything. I had been around Jasper for most of the day. He'd been keeping Alice calm, and at the same time, keeping me even more calm than I already was.

Edward sighed. "She's beginning to wonder if something is wrong with her visions. First Aro disappeared, and now she can't get a clear sight on anything with the Denalis. She's been watching them ever since the strange conversation you had with Tanya last night. They haven't disappeared like Aro has, but she can't seem to see them for more than a minute or two at a time. I don't think it's anything that should concern her so much, but she's very worried."

Carlisle frowned. "It isn't so unusual for Alice's visions to be interrupted by something like a major decision that hasn't been reached yet. Why does this upset her so much?"

"Because it happened right after Aro vanished," Jasper cut in. "Any other time, she wouldn't think much of it."

"Is it possible that the two things are somehow related?" I asked.

"Occam's razor," Carlisle answered thoughtfully. "Tanya was behaving quite strangely when we spoke, but I can't imagine what she could have to do with Aro's disappearance from Alice's visions."

"You don't think Eleazar could have rejoined the Volturi, do you?" Jasper broke in. "She did say that he and Carmen wouldn't be joining on their visit."

Edward shook his head vehemently. "I don't believe anything could inspire him to make that decision. His thoughts about the Volturi and his time with them were clear seven years ago when he stayed with us. Rejoining the Volturi is the furthest thing from Eleazar's mind. He's far too committed to his current way of life, and his bonds with Tanya and Kate are quite strong as well."

Carlisle nodded along as Edward spoke. "It's all so strange, but I'm afraid our speculations aren't doing much good. We'll all just have to do our best to wait patiently for Tanya and Kate to arrive so that we can have a better understanding. In the meantime, I think it would be best if we try not to put too much pressure on Alice."

"Definitely," Jasper agreed. "She puts enough pressure on herself. She thinks she's singlehandedly responsible for the well-being of all of us, including Nessie and Jacob who she can't even see. Sometimes I think her gift is an enormous burden for her."

"As it can be for all of us," Edward muttered.

I felt a twinge of jealousy, which I suppressed as quickly as it had come on. I knew it wasn't anyone's fault that some of us had abilities and some of us didn't. There was no sense worrying about it. I had amazing strength and a fabulous wife, and my general attitude kept anything from bothering me ninety-nine percent of the time. Still, when I heard Edward, Jasper, Alice, and Bella going on about the trouble with having special gifts, every once in awhile I couldn't stop myself from feeling like they were in their own special little club of gifted vampires and the rest of us were just the kids they had to babysit. I knew it was ridiculous and that they didn't see us that way. Still, it was difficult to understand how having special abilities was such a horrible burden when we weren't all in the same boat.

Edward kindly ignored my thoughts. "I know we've all been guilty of relying on Alice's visions too much, and I will readily confess that it has always upset me that she cannot see Renesmee. It's ludicrous that I should be bothered by needing to take my daughter's life one day at a time just like other parents need to do, but it _is_ troublesome for me because I've become so accustomed to Alice seeing everything. It's not fair to her, and I might be the worst offender."

Jasper inclined his head appreciatively in Edward's direction. "Let's all just agree not to pester Alice about what she sees for at least the next couple of days then," he said. It didn't really sound like a request, but I couldn't blame Jasper a bit. I would have felt the same way if everyone was hounding Rosalie for something that was upsetting to her.

"Agreed," I said at the same time that Edward and Carlisle spoke their approval as well. "Now let's get this show on the road," I added.

Jasper broke into a grin while Carlisle raised his eyebrows in confusion. Apparently, he had forgotten that my intention was to come out here and spar, or he'd thought that it was just a cover story. Edward, of course, had known that I'd meant every word I'd said. Including the part about him needing to take on more than one of us at a time out of a sense of fairness. Edward rolled his eyes in response to my thoughts, but seemed agreeable enough. I wasn't sure what to expect from Carlisle at this point, but he squared his shoulders and seemed to be mentally preparing himself for our match.

"Carlisle, are you sure you want to do this?" Jasper asked, probably sensing Carlisle's discomfort.

"I don't particularly enjoy fighting, as you all know," Carlisle began. "It is an unfortunate reality that there are times when fighting is called for. If we hadn't all fought together eight years ago against Victoria's army of newborns, we would be missing three members of our family. I don't know what's coming, but it can't possibly hurt for us to be prepared for anything."

Three members of our family. Victoria had been after Bella, and if she had succeeded, Nessie would never have been born. As for the third... Edward was trying very hard not to make eye contact with any of us. We all knew what he'd planned to do once before when he'd thought Bella was gone. I doubted very much that he would follow through on such a thing now, at least as long as Nessie was around, but if something should happen to the both of them, I wasn't sure. Edward shot me a pained expression, and I tried hard not to consider that possibility any longer. I wouldn't enjoy losing any of the three of them in the slightest. I couldn't imagine my life without all three of them. Still, I understood why he was so pained by the idea. As hard as it was for me to imagine life without the three of them, it was nothing compared to the way I deliberately avoided thinking of what I would do without Rosalie.

The best way to avoid thinking about something so horrible was to do something to take my mind off of it. "Okay, Carlisle, why don't you watch Jasper and me fight Edward for a couple of rounds, then we'll take turns with you," I said.

Carlisle's eyes darted first to Jasper, then to me. "Both of you against Edward?" I chuckled. Jasper was our best fighter, and I was the strongest. But Edward was the fastest, and he could tell what we were planning to do a fraction of a second before we did it.

"I'll be fine," Edward replied coolly. "It isn't as if either of them would actually hurt me anyway."

The three of us dropped into a half-crouch, hands pointed upward and fingers curled like claws. "On three," Jasper said. I felt a wave of excitement and anticipation, though whether it was my own or Jasper's was anyone's guess. "One... Two..." I decided to cheat and launched myself at Edward before Jasper reached three.

Edward, of course, had known what I was going to do and was on my back before I'd even had a chance to pick up speed. I tried to fling him off me, but he could tell it was coming and he pulled me down with him. Jasper was obviously irritated that the two of us had begun before he'd finished counting, but he jumped right in. Edward had quite a grip around my throat; if I'd needed air to survive, it probably would have caused me to lose consciousness. Meanwhile, Jasper was making a move toward Edward's legs. Edward, for his part, proceeded to wrap his legs around my waist so that Jasper couldn't get a grip.

Fair enough, he had me in a position where I couldn't do a lot. Problem was, if we were actually in this fight to kill, Jasper would've just torn his head off. Edward sighed. "You're right, of course," he muttered. He repositioned himself and launched off my back my planting his feet in the backs of my knees and kicking me down while simultaneously releasing his grip on my neck. I didn't stay down for long, but I somehow managed to miss the part where Edward had pulled Jasper to the ground, presumably after flying through the air off my back.

Now Edward had himself in kind of a compromising position. Sure, Jasper had been pulled to the ground, but he didn't have any purchase. The two of them were just rolling around, vying for victory. Edward managed to dodge all of Jasper's would-be blows, but I was still there. Suddenly, Edward kicked Jasper away from him and into a tree, which created a too-loud cracking sound. Edward was back on his feet and running toward me. I went to step to the right to get out of his way, but of course he saw it coming and moved over to tackle me. I tried to flip him over my head as he charged, but he saw that too and tackled me low instead.

I heard another loud crack and I looked up to see that Jasper was wielding most of the tree he'd just broken with his body and had tried to strike Edward in the head with it. It wouldn't have hurt Edward very much, but it sure would have given us a momentary advantage. But Edward and his mind-reading had known it was coming, and instead of his head, the tree had connected with nothing but solid ground.

"You're lucky I didn't just move your head into its path," Edward murmured before grasping one end of the tree and catapulting himself into the air from it. We couldn't tell exactly where he'd landed, and while we were trying to find him by scent, he had run back up behind us again. The next thing I knew, I was hit with something solid, and I fell to the ground. It took me about half a second to realize that the solid thing that had hit me was a very surprised Jasper.

"Okay, fine, you win, lousy cheater," I grunted. "We ought to get Bella out here and see how you do with her shielding us."

"It would be foolish of me not to take advantage of every ability I have," Edward grinned while the three of us brushed off the excess dirt.

"Okay, Carlisle, you're up," Jasper announced. Carlisle looked extremely uncertain. He'd seen us in action before of course, but it wans't often that he saw us quite that crazed in an effort for victory. Obviously, we'd been even more determined during the newborn battle, but Carlisle had been a little distracted during that fight, what with trying to fight off some newborns himself and all, plus worrying about Bella who was still conspicuously fragile.

Poor Bella. What must it have been like for her, knowing that so many people she cared about were risking their lives and all she was allowed to do was sit out? How would I have felt if I'd been human for more than ten minutes after meeting Rosalie, knowing that she was off to fight while I sat around uselessly and tried not to get eaten?

Jasper and Carlisle had started to spar while Edward and I stood off to the side as spectators. At first, I called out occasional encouragement for Carlisle, but Edward seemed to be completely lost in thought. Carlisle and Jasper seemed pretty preoccupied, so I thought this might be a good time to try to have a heart-to-heart with my brother.

"You thought that watching Jasper and Carlisle fighting was a good time for a serious conversation?" Edward smirked.

_Sure, why not? It's not like they're going to hurt each other, _I replied easily.

"True," he answered quietly. "I suppose you expected that nothing would bother me this time because Bella is no longer fragile and human. The truth is, we aren't sure what to expect, of course, so there's no specific reason why I should be so concerned. But Aro wants Bella for his guard, and I'm afraid he may stop at nothing to try to acquire her. I haven't wanted to say anything that might worry her, and I certainly haven't wanted to bring it up in front of Jasper, because he wants Alice just as much. Perhaps more."

_Aww, come on Edward, Bella's proven herself to be perfectly capable of taking care of herself. Heck, she's the best defense we've got. _

"Yes, but what do you suppose is our greatest weakness as a family?"

_We have a weakness? I mean, I realize half of us don't have any special abilities, but we're pretty competent in our own right. Well, Rose and I are. Carlisle and Esme manage to hold their own, __but just barely._

"I was referring to our family member who isn't quite a vampire," Edward's voice was strained as he spoke.

_Nessie? You don't think Aro is planning to use Nessie to get to Bella, do you?_

"It's the only thing I've been able to think, and the prospect terrifies me. Aro disappeared from Alice's visions, and who else doesn't appear in her visions?"

_The wolves don't appear in her visions either, _I replied reasonably. _I don't see you worrying about the entire pack._

"I _am_ worried about the pack," he said thoughtfully. "But there are quite a few of them, and only one of Renesmee."

_Don't be stupid, we'd all protect Nessie with our lives. You know that. Hell, Rose would never forgive any of us who didn't._

"I do know that," Edward began carefully. "But once Renesmee starts school, we won't be able to ensure that she's guarded twenty four hours a day. As it is now, she's always surrounded by either vampires or werewolves. She would be too easy of a target at school, and if Aro does manage to take her, Bella would give him anything he wanted in exchange for her safety. Including herself."

_Edward, it's way too early to be worrying about that. We don't even know why Aro's disappeared yet. Besides, Alice says she sees everyone else. It's only Aro who's missing. _

"Perhaps he doesn't plan to take her back to Italy."

_Sulpicia wouldn't be happy being separated from him._

Edward sighed. "You're right, of course. There are too many factors which cause this idea to make little sense. Still, nothing else makes any sense either. We've been over every possibility. He can't be dead, because his wife would be devastated at his loss. It's unlikely that he alone would be shielded from Alice in some way."

_And it's just as unlikely that he's disappeared because he's planned some kidnapping of your __daughter. Besides, even if that were the case, Alice can normally see around Nessie to see the rest of us and our futures. She'd be able to see around her to see Aro too._

"I know," Edward confessed. "It doesn't stop me from worrying all the same."

We watched in silence for a few minutes as Jasper let Carlisle get in a few hits that he could easily have avoided. He could sense when Carlisle was losing confidence in himself and let him get in just exactly the right number of blows to build him up without letting him get in enough to be obvious that he was doing it deliberately.

_We're not going to let anything happen to our family, Edward, _I finally told him firmly. _We've been together for seventy years, except for Bella and Nessie, but they're just as much a part of this group as any of us. No one is going to come along and wreck that for us._

Edward nodded his agreement, and we continued taking turns sparring for the rest of the evening. We were a perfectly happy family, and of course Edward was crazy for thinking anything could interfere with that. How little I knew that night.


	6. Reveal

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Six - Reveal

The next couple of days passed without major incident. The girls had been right to guess that coloring Nessie's hair might help her to pass as Bella's cousin; the resemblance to Edward was still there, but most humans probably wouldn't notice it. Although Bella had been the one to come up with the pseudonym of "Vanessa" for her, she seemed slightly irritated that Nessie wouldn't be able to use her real name at school. Bella took so much pride in her daughter's unique name, but she recognized that it wouldn't do for Nessie to have too much attention drawn to her.

Charlie was in on the plan, of course, since Nessie's address at the school was his own address. He grumbled a little about it, mainly because he was afraid of finding out more information than the strictly "need to know" policy he'd adopted for such a long time, but Bella and Edward didn't offer any details beyond the fact that he was to pretend to be "Vanessa Swan's" second cousin, which would make Bella just enough of a relative to explain the resemblance, but distant enough that no one was likely to closely inspect the family tree and wonder why neither Bella nor Charlie had never mentioned "Vanessa" before. According to the paperwork Bella was able to obtain from Jasper's old contact, Vanessa Swan's parents had passed away a few years before and Vanessa had been placed in foster care until Charlie had been able to get custody as her closest living relative. This would allow Nessie to go to school without needing to feign a lot of grief for recently deceased parents.

Edward continued to worry about sending Nessie to school in light of the current situation, but he had no choice but to go forward with the plan as it was until we knew more. On the positive side, Nessie wouldn't have to be pulled out of class on sunny days. She had a vague glow in the sunlight, but it wasn't suspicious enough to draw attention.

We had all kept up our end of the bargain with Jasper and stopped asking Alice for hints about the future. That had, of course, done nothing to stop her from searching for them anyway. She'd gotten no closer to figuring out what the situation was with Aro, and we hadn't heard anything from any of our contacts. Jasper hadn't had any luck contacting Peter and Charlotte. Like a lot of nomads, they were typically difficult to reach without tracking them down in person, and Jasper had decided to wait to see what Tanya and Kate had to say before he went looking for them.

Rosalie's foul mood didn't seem to be lifting. She hadn't been the slightest bit pleased when Nessie had finished growing. It would have probably been different if Nessie had been her own daughter, but she had the sense that Nessie didn't need her anymore now that she was grown. Of course Nessie still loved all of us just as much as she ever had, but Rose's mind wasn't easily changed.

I was doing my best to try and keep everyone focused on relaxation, but even with Jasper's help, I was getting nowhere fast. Everywhere I looked, I was surrounded by worrying. So senseless. I could comprehend worrying if there was something to worry about, even though I generally tried not to. In this case though, we had no idea what the situation was. For all we knew, everything could be perfectly normal and Aro could have found some bizarre way of slipping out of Alice's visions. Sure, that would be cause for minor concern, but nothing like everyone was fearing. So we waited. I hoped that Tanya and Kate would bring news of some normalcy on the horizon.

A few hours before we expected their visit, Carlisle received an unexpected phone call.

"Carlisle, I'm so sorry to bother you like this, but I've become a bit frantic," Siobhan's voice came through the other end of the phone.

"It's no bother at all, Siobhan. Quite the contrary, it's good to hear from you," Carlisle answered smoothly. At the same time, he raised his hand to signal all of us to be as silent as we could manage. Even though we were all gathered awaiting our visitors, we were all exceptionally good at being quiet. Nessie eased herself to the furthest corner of the room from Carlisle, since she was the most likely to make noise. Jacob was planning to be present when Tanya and Kate arrived, as one of the pack's preparations for a visit from more bloodsuckers, but he hadn't arrived yet. The mood in the room grew tense, and even without Edward's gift, I could tell we were all thinking the same thing. Did the Irish coven know something about Aro's disappearance?

"It's a long shot, my old friend, but I wondered if you had heard from Maggie or Rowan?" Siobhan continued.

"Maggie? No, I'm afraid not. I'm unfamilar with the name Rowan." Carlisle's confusion was echoed in a few of the others' expressions, but Alice had immediately jumped into action searching for Maggie's decisions.

"Rowan is a new member of our coven," Siobhan explained. "We met him only a few months ago. He was still a newborn at the time, and we would ordinarily have steered clear of him, but he and Maggie had an immediate attraction. You know how it is. He is her mate. He had a lot of trouble acclimating to our group for various reasons, but he was slowly beginning to adjust. About a week ago, Maggie said that they were going to seek help for a problem of Rowan's. The two of them left, and I haven't heard from them since. I was sure they'd be back by now. I thought perhaps they might have gone to you for assistance. I was certain that you would be inclined to help if you could offer any."

"Of course I would," Carlisle replied. "I still owe your coven a great debt for your assistance seven years ago. I would never forget such a thing. But I'm afraid Maggie did not come to me for help."

"Excuse me Carlisle," Alice spoke up. "I can see Maggie and a man I don't recognize. They're fine. They're on their way back to Siobhan, but I don't think they found what they were looking for. They seem frustrated, and it looks like they're trying to decide what to do next. I'm getting a lot of flashes, but they're definitely going home first."

"Ahh," Siobhan replied, clearly having heard everything. "Thank you, Alice. That is a great relief to know. But I must ask you, Carlisle, how is little Nessie? And Bella, how did she adapt to your lifestyle? It has been far too long since we've caught up."

Carlisle spent the next half hour or so on the phone with Siobhan, whose voice seemed much more relaxed after hearing from Alice that Maggie and her new mate were unharmed. I noticed that Siobhan didn't offer a lot of information about Rowan when she spoke. She caught Carlisle up on what she and Liam had been up to, and it was nothing out of the ordinary. Carlisle filled Siobhan in on the last few years of our life, which had also been somewhat dull with the exception of our latest members of the family. Nessie started to grow restless after awhile, and when Jacob arrived, Carlisle politely excused himself from the conversation, explaining that Tanya and Kate were expected in a short time. He promised to pass along Siobhan's regards to the both of them and offered his assistance if Maggie and Rowan should need further help once they returned home.

"Did anyone else think that was a little odd?" I said suspiciously. Usually, I was the easygoing one of the bunch, so I was sure someone else must have shared my concerns.

"You mean the fact that she barely said a dozen words about this new mate of Maggie's? Yes. Extremely odd," Jasper replied.

"You don't suppose this could be related to what's happened to Aro, do you?" Bella said anxiously. "Ireland isn't so far from Italy, really. Not for our kind."

"At this point, Bella, I think it would be unwise for us to discount any possibility. I hope that we will have some more answers soon," Carlisle replied.

"What's going on?" Jacob demanded. His harsh tone made it clear to everyone that this was an official pack question and not the simple curiosity of a family member.

"Possibly nothing," Carlisle answered patiently. "Just a phone call from one of our friends, questioning whether we knew anything about the whereabouts of two members of her coven. Alice was able to locate them on their way back home."

"So they're not coming here?" Jacob snapped. He knew that most of our friends weren't the type to follow our diet.

"I don't believe so," Carlisle replied, "but I did offer my assistance if it should be requested. We owe these friends. They are part of the group that came to witness for Renesmee shortly after her birth."

That shut Jacob up. As distasteful as he might find vampires, even he couldn't argue with repaying the favor to those who had saved Nessie's life. He might not be happy about it, but if we were to invite any of that group to visit, he would tolerate their presence for brief periods, so long as they kept their hunting well outside of Forks and La Push.

"You'll let the pack know if you expect any of them?" Jacob finally asked after a few moments of silence. "After all, I can't promise that we'll leave your friends alone if we run across them without warning."

"Of course," Carlisle assured him. "I would never endanger our alliance by trying to deceive you."

This seemed to satisfy Jacob for the time being, and he busied himself telling Nessie all about how Mittens was adapting to his new environment. She squealed in delight every time he talked about something interesting that the kitten had done with one of his toys, and Nessie planned to visit as soon as it was possible to do so. At least somebody was happy around here.

We sat around mainly in silence while the last hours ticked down before Tanya and Kate's arrival. "What about Garrett?" Bella asked. "I thought he and Kate were mates now?"

"Theirs is an unusual situation," Edward answered, and we were all paying close attention. We had all been expecting a wedding invitation any time now, but instead, we'd heard next to nothing about the situation between Kate and Garrett. Edward was silent about the secrets of others that they didn't speak aloud, but those secrets tended to be few and far between among those who knew him well enough to realize that they might as well just tell him whatever was on their mind. He generally considered it fair game to repeat tales that he'd been told verbally.

"Unusual how?" Jasper asked. "Their feelings about one another seemed as strong as any I've ever seen from new mates."

"Well, Garrett enjoys a challenge, as you all know. At first, he was committed to abiding by our diet, but he found himself unable to abstain for longer than a few months at a time." Jacob cringed, realizing that this meant Garrett was still slaughtering humans. Edward ignored him. "Tanya is quite tolerant, but she simply refused to have a vampire living under her roof who would not follow an animal diet. Kate didn't want to leave Tanya so soon after Irina's death, so Garrett took up residence nearby. He continues to make efforts at maintaining the diet completely, and Tanya has agreed to let him move in permanently if he can go for two years without human blood. When last I spoke to Kate, he had been steadily on the animal diet for just over a year."

"So they don't live together?" Bella was incredulous. "I can't even imagine that."

"They see one another frequently, but no, they do not live together. Garrett knows it's all up to him to change that, and he's making a genuine effort." Edward informed her. "In time, he will be able to overcome the urges, just as the rest of us have done." He looked up at Jacob, who was still scowling. "He _is_ trying, Jacob. It's not as easy as we sometimes make it seem."

"It's really not," Nessie added, surprising all of us. "I choose to eat human food because it's more convenient than having to go hunting regularly. I need to sleep, unlike everyone else, so I have less time in the day. I'm also not quite as resilient as the others, so there's an actual danger that I could get hurt. Eating human food is just easier for me, since I can survive on it. Every now and again though, I just crave blood. I haven't had human blood since I was a baby and was being fed donated blood, but I can remember all too clearly how much better than animal blood it was. I know it's wrong, and I would never kill a human, especially when I have so many other options, but it really is hard to control even for me. For full vampires, it must be so much worse."

Jacob was stunned into silence, and the rest of us followed suit. Esme got out a sketch pad and started to draw as a means of soothing herself. Nessie retrieved a deck of cards, and she and Jacob began to play some bizarre game they'd made up over the years that none of us really understood, but usually resulted in Nessie winning. Jasper was helping Alice work on making some kind of jewelry, except unlike most families who made homemade items, they were using real gems. Bella and Edward alternated between staring into each other's eyes and watching Nessie with quiet pride. Rosalie nestled herself against me and I returned the gesture, grateful for this tender moment. We hadn't had a lot of time for such moments over the last few days, and I hoped that time would restore itself soon enough.

Soon enough, there was a knock at the door. Carlisle rose and crossed the room before the visitor had finished their third rap. "Hello Tanya, Kate," he greeted them warmly. "Garrett, it's good to see you, we didn't realize you would be coming along as well."

"Hey Carlisle," Garrett said cheerfully. "Kate told me they were coming, and I couldn't pass up a chance to see how much Nessie has grown since I last saw her. Holy cow, is that her?" Nessie flashed him a huge grin and Garrett crossed the room to give her an embrace. Jacob was on guard, but he said nothing. Garrett's eyes were a deep butterscotch color at the moment, so it seemed that he was fairly close to reaching his goal of two years without human blood.

"How have things been, kid? You were so tiny the last time I saw you and now look at you! You're as big as your mom!" In response, Nessie placed her hand on Garrett's cheek and filled him in on the highlights of her life up to this point. He didn't flinch in the slightest, chuckling a couple of times at various points known only to the two of them (and Edward, of course).

"Me next!" Kate chimed in. "No electric current, I promise," she joked, and Nessie happily complied.

Tanya was still hanging back in the doorway and didn't seem altogether comfortable. It was then that I noticed the distinctly human aroma coming from the doorway and the accompanying burn in my throat. Now that didn't make any sense. Bringing Garrett along was no big deal, but what in the world would have possessed them to also bring along a human unannounced? At the very least, they should have warned us so we'd be prepared, even though we were all perfectly well-controlled. Even Jasper had stopped struggling a couple of years after Bella had been changed. Everyone else seemed to notice the scent too, and Jacob raced to the door to stand between the human and the rest of us, just for good measure.

"Well everyone, it wasn't easy to keep this quiet, especially from Alice," Tanya entered the room as she spoke. "Unfortunately, it was necessary. I'm not sure what we're going to do, but I'm glad we have you to help us decide. If you hadn't called when you did, I would have called you in another day or two."

We were all craning our necks to see, but Tanya had apparently given her human companion explicit instructions to remain well out of sight. What could she possibly have told his hapless human? I didn't think it was possible that Tanya could have broken one of our highest laws, the one that stated that humans could not be informed of our kind's existence. Her family all had the healthiest respect for the law, given that they'd lost their mother and their sister due to violations of it. Kate and Garrett seemed anxious, and all of our curiosity was thoroughly piqued. If she was harboring a human, at least that explained why she'd been so secretive when she'd spoken to Carlisle, but I was pretty sure our family would have been the most understanding of anyone, considering how long Bella had known the truth about us before she'd joined us. What was she waiting for? Bring this person in already and tell us what they knew and why.

"All right," she called over her shoulder. "Come in."

Tanya stepped inside the house and clear of the doorway. Thirteen pairs of eyes bored into the doorway while the human outside hesitated. Edward let out a gasp. "Not possible!" he exclaimed, and we all stole a glance in his direction before resuming our staring contest with our own door. A soft, strangely familiar chuckle came from outside.

"I would have thought the same, my dear Edward," the same voice replied from the shadows before finally emerging. "Carlisle, my old friend. You have no idea how much it pleases me to see you."

A figure stood before us, his light brown eyes passive, even in light of the company that surrounded him. Color flushed through his cheeks, and his racing heartbeat gave away that he was anxious, no matter how hard he pretended to be otherwise. He was a handsome man, for a human. His features were refined, and though not entirely familiar, it was clear who we saw. It was Aro. He was human.


	7. Memories

**It's not at all like me to update so infrequently, so I apologize. I'm going to try to get new chapters posted on a semi-regular basis from here on out. =)**

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Seven - Memories

Naturally, it was Carlisle who spoke first. "Aro, it's a pleasure to see you, of course, but I'm not entirely certain that I understand. How—"

Aro cut him off. "Nothing would please me more than to answer all of your questions, Carlisle. I'm quite familiar with the burning curiosity you possess and your desire to understand everything possible about the world around you. Unfortunately though, I'm at something of a loss. I'm afraid I do not understand what has happened to me myself."

For the first time, I noticed a distinct air of pain behind Aro's mask of serenity. I glanced over at Jasper with a puzzled expression. He seemed to understand my question and nodded, nearly wincing in pain himself. So I wasn't imagining things. Aro was unhappy about something, and deeply so. I looked next to Edward, who would understand the source of the pain. Unlike Jasper, Edward didn't have to take a wild guess at the question in my mind.

_Any idea what's bothering Aro so much?_

Edward locked his gaze on mine and shrugged his shoulders the tiniest amount.

_But something _is _upsetting him. Anyone could see it, and Jasper's noticed it too._

Edward nodded his head in agreement with my assessment of the situation.

_He just hasn't thought specifically of what's troubling him?_

Edward gave his head a slight shake.

While I was silently communicating with my brothers, Carlisle was attempting to use more direct methods of communication to get to the bottom of the situation. "Please take a seat anywhere you'd like, Aro. As I'm sure you're all too aware, we are perfectly comfortable regardless. Can we get you anything? We have quite a variety of food for..." Carlisle's voice trailed off, not quite willing to use the word "human" to describe a man whom he knew to be somewhere around three thousand years his senior.

"My kind," Aro finished smugly. "I don't mean to impose, but it _has _been some time since I ate. My hosts do their best, of course, but they have long forgotten how frequently we need to eat." He whisked himself to the couch and settled into the corner of it. "My, but you furniture is so _comfortable,_" he said in astonishment.

"Yes, it is partially to keep up appearances, and partially because we do have Renesmee with us, as well as frequent visits from our wolf allies," Carlisle replied.

"Renesmee?" Aro's brow puckered slightly in confusion as he seemed to search his memories. "Ah yes, the hybrid child I met seven years ago! The daughter of your Edward and Bella, before she became an immortal? But she's not here, is she?" He glanced around the room, probably still looking for a tiny girl.

Nessie raised her hand. "Here," she called nervously. She still remembered Aro from their brief encounter, and despite the fact that he clearly was no longer the threat to her existence that he'd once been, she looked as if she were still intimidated by him.

For a moment, Aro seemed to have forgotten his troubles as he brought his hands together once in a loud clap. "Wonderful!" he exclaimed. "And to think you've grown this much in seven short years!" He'd fallen under her spell just as everyone invariably did. "You do look so much like your mother before she was changed."

"Thank you," Nessie replied politely, tugging uncomfortably at her recently-colored hair.

"Excuse me Aro," Esme interjected. "What would you like to eat? We have quite a variety. I can probably make nearly anything you might request."

"I—I'm not sure," Aro admitted. "My memories from when I used to consume this type of nourishment are almost nonexistant. My gracious hosts in Denali have been providing me with bread and water."

Tanya looked away sheepishly, but Kate stood her ground, grinning widely. Apparently, Aro was entirely too clueless about humanity to realize that he was being fed worse food than your average prisoner.

"I see," Esme replied unflustered. "Nessie, perhaps you'd like to help me pick out some of your favorites for our guest?"

"Of course," Nessie replied, seemingly grateful for any excuse to get out of Aro's immediate presence. They went into the kitchen together, and in a few moments, I could smell the burning flesh of some animal. If I tried hard, I would probably be able to tell exactly what they were cooking, but I wasn't particularly interested in that topic.

"It will take some time for the two of them to finish preparing your meal," Carlisle told Aro kindly, and I could tell that whatever the girls were cooking must smell pretty good to Aro. He lifted his nose in delight, and I heard his stomach rumble. It was surreal. This man had been a vampire long before the birth of my great-great-great-great-great-great... Probably about 100 greats, actually. And yet here he was. Mortal. Fragile. Human.

"Perhaps it would be best that I get started with my story now, then, if you don't mind a slight interruption when your lovely wife has finished with the food preparations?" His voice lingered over the word "wife," and I once again cast a questioning look at Edward, who was blinking rapidly in response to something Aro must have been unable to stop himself from thinking.

"We don't mind a bit," Carlisle assured him. Edward left the room briefly and returned less than a second later with a tall glass of ice water for Aro.

"Thank you Edward," he said gratefully. "I was quite thirsty. But you must have known this, of course." He took a large gulp of water from the glass and paused, smacking his lips a little, table manners forgotten. It was anyone's guess whether he'd forgotten them in the last few minutes or more than three millennia before. "As I said, I'm not entirely certain what happened or why. But I can tell you what I remember of my last day as an immortal and allow you to formulate your own theories. They are sure to be at least as good as any guess of my own.

"It was a perfectly normal day. Caius and I discussed the latest rumors we'd heard and whether there might be any need to send out any scouts. Demetri gave his reports on the whereabouts of those we were carefully monitoring. We discussed adding some new artwork in the main hallway where our meals came through, to give them some additional last images to look upon. Heidi brought us some food, and then we were informed that we had visitors who would very much like an audience with us. Of course we were all too happy to oblige.

"It was the female who came in first, and I recognized her at once as Maggie, the young woman with the gift for being able to tell when she's being deliberately deceived. She was among those you were able to gather to witness for you those years ago during that unpleasant event." Tanya growled almost inaudibly at Aro's casual reference to the day he'd had Irina murdered for no good reason. Aro couldn't possibly have heard her; no human could. "She told me that she required some manner of assistance for her new mate. I told her I would be delighted to hear him out and implored her to bring him in at once. She hesitated, telling me that it was complicated. I was about to read her for additional details when her mate came in. Rowan. He was a tall, slender man with shoulder-length brown hair and eyes the color of one who was nearing the end of his time as a newborn. As it is my habit to do upon meeting new mates, I reached to touch Marcus's hand to find out the strength of their relationship.

"I was distracted, wondering what task Rowan could need help with and trying to give him my customary pleasantries. Too distracted to notice immediately that it wasn't Marcus's memories that were flashing before me. His memories are quite familiar to me by now, you see, since I've read him tens of thousands of times over the years. They are quite as familiar to me as my own memories. By the time I realized that it was, indeed, my own memories on display, I was too late to jerk my hand away before the very scene came up that I'd worked so hard to conceal from Marcus for all those centuries. I tried, of course, to pull my hand back. But Marcus was hungry to see all of the memories I had of my sister, his wife, Didyme. Without having the slightest idea what he was about to witness, he gripped my hand harder, and I was unable to wrench it from him before he saw her death at my hands."

Aro paused again to take another drink of water, leaving us sitting in stunned silence. We knew that Marcus once had a wife, and that she had died long before any of us had been created or even born. We knew that her death was the reason for Marcus's seeming indifference to everything around him. We had seen firsthand how inconsolable various members of our kind could be at the loss of their mate—most obviously Edward—but we had never imagined that Aro himself had been the catalyst for all of this. The idea that one of our kind would knowingly kill the mate of a coven member, aware of the agony it would inflict for all of eternity... It was unthinkable, as much so as making a public spectacle of ourselves or creating an immortal child.

But Aro had done it.

He was even more evil than I'd ever imagined.

He opened his mouth to continue, but Rosalie interrupted. "You killed your own _sister_?"

Aro gave a dismisive wave of his hand. "It happened more than twenty five hundred years ago, my dear. I've killed many others since then. Humans. Vampires. Werewolves—not the kind you have as friends, of course, the Children of the Moon. Mythical creatures whose existence has only been speculated at by most of the world. So many have died at my hand, and you must all be aware of this fact already. Do you really wish to spend time quibbling over each one of them? I'm afraid I may never finish my story if I were to indulge you."

Rosalie hissed, but fell silent to permit Aro to continue. I had a feeling she would be grilling him about this subject again once he'd told the remainder of his final day as an immortal.

"I saw the betrayal in Marcus's eyes. I still don't understand precisely how he was able to gain access to my memories, but gain them he did. I saw something else as well. Hatred. Not quite murder; it seems that the ties that bound us so closely after all of the time Chelsea had spent harvesting those very ties would prevent him from killing me where I stood, but nonetheless, I was frightened. I'd always had a plan in mind of what to do in the event that Marcus should ever learn this one terrible truth I'd kept from him and I somehow found myself unable to deny it. Without a word to any of the others, I ran for the tower to retrieve my wife. We would set out on our own. Hopefully, Demetri would not be enticed to follow us, or if he could be, perhaps he would elect to remain with us rather than bringing us back to Marcus. The remainder of the group would be able to keep order without me, if necessary. All that mattered was that Sulpicia and I should remain together.

"I reached the tower, and I was aware that Maggie and Rowan were chasing after me. They had no idea what had just transpired. Neither, of course, did Caius, Felix, or Demetri, but they were far more accustomed to eccentricities than Maggie and Rowan. They were content to remain behind and question Marcus rather than giving chase. I was unconcerned. What would the two of them do? They'd come to me for help. They wouldn't bring me any harm. I found Sulpicia in her room, studying a book while listening to some classical music.

"'Sulpicia, my love,' I told her as calmly as I could manage, 'the time has come for us to take our leave of this place.'

"She looked up at me with love and confusion. 'If that is what we must do, of course I will go with you. But why, my love?' she asked me.

"'I'm afraid something has happened to Marcus,' I explained to her. 'All the time he's spent without Didyme has finally taken its toll. He's gone mad. I believe he may have an easier time gaining sympathy for his cause than I for mine. Lines will be drawn, and we must be away from here when it happens.'

"Maggie and Rowan had been on my heels the entire time and stood behind me as I delivered this well-rehearsed line. I had always anticipated Sulpicia's reaction to be one of concern for Marcus's well-being, but acceptance of our fate. Instead, she narrowed her lovely crimson eyes at me. 'You're lying,' she whispered. It wasn't a question. She knew. 'What really happened?'

"I was backed into a corner. For some reason, I was suddenly unable to fool her through ay manner of deception. I didn't understand what was happening, but I knew that I would have to tell her the truth. So that is what I did. I told her everything, how I had changed my sister in the hopes that her gift would be as potent as my own, how she and Marcus had fallen in love with one another and intended to set out on their own, how I needed Marcus and his gift more than I needed my sister and hers. How I murdered her when I was certain no one would ever know and claimed that a nearby coven had been responsible for her death. How I'd kept this secret from everyone for all this time and Marcus had just discovered it. I had never told anyone that story before, and I sincerely believed I would never need to tell it again. 'Please, Sulpicia,' I begged her. 'We must leave this place at once!'

"Her expression changed. Didyme had been her closest friend and had kept her happy during her first few centuries with us, as she had done with everyone with whom she came into contact. I knew her bond to me was much closer than her bond to Didyme, but nevertheless, my wife's reaction was not what I would have expected. 'I'm not going anywhere with you,' she informed me, and I recalled the human phrase 'if looks could kill.'

"I begged her to come with me, I pleaded, I coerced. To no avail. 'Leave here, Aro!' she shouted. 'You have lied to me for the last time. Leave here, and never return!'"

Aro's words slowly sank in. Sulpicia, his lifelong mate, had sent him away in anger over his actions. Actions that would have angered any reasonable person. Actions that, in addition to performing, he'd spent more than two thousand years lying to her about. Even for mated pairs of our kind, such a thing _did_ seem rather unforgivable.

"Over the next few hours," Aro continued after taking another drink from his glass, "I found myself unbearably thirsty. Moreso than I recalled being during my first months of creation. I fled the city at once, knowing that the law must still be obeyed above all else. As soon as I was outside of Volterra and was certain that was I not being followed, I drank my fill of anything in my path that was convenient. Humans, animals, I didn't care. I needed blood. Any blood. I hope that I was inconspicuous, but I cannot be certain that I was, in such a state as I was in. I wanted to formulate some kind of plan to win back Sulpicia's favor, and perhaps even eventually resume my position with the Volturi. But I could think of nothing other than my own insatiable thirst. I ran further and further from Volterra, pausing only to drink before continuing to run. The thirst burned my throat even while I was drinking. Nothing would stop it. I reached the ocean and I began to swim across, drinking the blood of any sea creatures unfortunate enough to swin near me. I reached land again and continued my aimless path of death, unable to end my own thirst long enough to have a coherent thought of my own.

"Some time later, I found myself staggering, weary, unsure of my steps. It was confusing. I was still so thirsty, but I didn't seem to be able to keep running. It was as if the blood I'd consumed, even in such massive quantities, was not enough to keep my body functioning. I paused to rest at the stump of a tree. The last thing I remember was feeling very cold.

"I awoke some time later in unfamiliar surroundings. The thirst was gone, but I'd lost hours—I'm not sure exactly how many—and the world seemed very different. It took me quite some time to realize that my heart was beating once again, and even longer to understand the implications of this discovery. At that time, I had to make plans for where I should go next. I was human, but I would never be able to fit in among other humans. I had only vague ideas of what their culture was like. I had no verifiable identity or marketable skills. Living among vampires would be rather difficult, considering that they would want to eat me. I remembered then of the two covens who did not eat humans and realized that I would be safest with one of them until I could make some more permanent plans. I weighed the pros and cons of each. I believed that both groups would be ill-disposed toward taking me in due to the events of seven years ago, but Tanya's coven contained a former member of my guard, so I thought it best to go there. It took me days to get to Alaska when I didn't know where I was. I had to stop frequently to eat, sleep, drink, and rest. I managed to make the journey, though. And now you know everything that I know."

Esme had finished preparing Aro's meal a few minutes before, but she had continued keeping it warm on the stove until Aro finished his story, not wanting to wait for him to finish later. She brought his food in now so that he could begin eating, along with a fresh glass of water.

"Ahh, thank you, Esme my dear. It smells delightful." These were the last words Aro would utter for several minutes. Aparently, he couldn't bring himself to pause in eating long enough to say anything else. Based on everything I'd heard from the wolves, from Bella when she was human, from her father, and from Nessie, Esme was an excellent cook. Aro seemed to agree. I actually saw tears forming in his eyes as he ate, though whether it was because the food was so good or because it was painful for him to relive his last day as a vampire, I couldn't be certain.

Edward cleared his throat. "You don't need to speak, if you do not desire to do so, Aro. I can see that your mouth is presently occupied. However, I think the rest of us would like to discuss what you've just told us. As you know, if you have anything pertinent to add, you can do so with your thoughts and I will let the others know." Aro nodded his approval and continued digging in. Esme had prepared a feast for him not unlike she would prepare for Nessie or one of the wolves. She wasn't accustomed to cooking small quantities of food, but it seemed to suit Aro fine. Evidently, he hadn't had all that much to eat in the care of our cousins in Denali.

"Clearly, this has something to do with Rowan," Jasper was first to speak. "Siobhan wasn't telling us something. Could Rowan's gift be to turn vampires back into humans?"

Carlisle shook his head. "I don't believe that to be the case. Siobhan is one of the most intelligent people I've ever met. She would know better than to unleash someone with a talent like that unsupervised. I do agree though; Rowan definitely must have been a key player in this."

Bella was next. "Think about what Aro said. Marcus was able to use _Aro's _ability. And when Aro went to speak with Sulpicia, Maggie and Rowan were the only ones with them. It certainly sounded to me as if Sulpicia somehow had Maggie's ability when she realized Aro was lying."

We were all silent for a moment as Bella's observations sunk in. She was right.

"Are you suggesting that Rowan's talent is to channel the abilities of vampires onto one another?" I asked.

Edward's eyebrows shot straight up. "It would explain parts of the story if that were true. But still, it doesn't explain how Aro became a human."

Beside me, Rosalie was as still and silent as if she were lying in her own coffin. I knew what she must be thinking: That somehow, by mistake, Aro had discovered a way to do exactly what she herself had wanted to do from the day she'd been created. All she wanted was to become human again. Personally, I had no problems with being a vampire—particularly not the type we were that lived on the blood of animals and didn't harm any humans. Still, if it would make Rosalie happy, I would do everything in my power to get to the bottom of this mystery and try to grant her what she so desperately wanted. I would join her in humanity if it was her wish, or I would bid her farewell and quietly watch her go if that was what she wanted, though it may destroy me to do it. First though, we needed to figure out exactly how it had happened. With or without Rosalie's desire to be human again, what Aro had found was a game-changer. Now that we knew it was possible for vampires to become human once more, would anything ever be the same for our kind?


	8. Speculation

**Hellooooooo out there? My traffic reports (at least the ones from a few days ago, before the traffic reports wentdown) indicate that people _are_ reading this story, but barely anyone is reviewing? Thanks so much to those who have taken the time to review. =)**

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Eight - Speculation

For the first time since Aro had first disappeared from Alice's visions days ago, we were finally beginning to get some answers. I had been right about one thing—it _had_ been pointless to speculate. No one had been even the slightest bit close to guessing at Aro's fate. Everyone had assumed he was either dead or shielded. It turned out there was an Option C. Somehow, he had become human again. The trouble was, even hours after Aro told his tale and finished his meal, we were still no closer to figuring out why. Were we all at risk of being transformed back into humans again?

There was still another point I didn't understand though. "Alice, why do you think Aro disappeared from your visions?" I asked.

"Well," she said hesitantly, "I have a guess about that. Since we saw him in his new form, I've been able to see him again. It's blurry, mainly because so little has been decided about his future. My best theory is that, as far as I ever knew, transformations only worked one way: from human to vampire. I wasn't looking for a human Aro. If I had been, I probably would have been able to see him. I suppose from now on, when one of our kind disappears, that should be the first thing I check."

Jasper nodded encouragingly at his wife. "It makes sense. You had no reason to look for Aro like this. It defies all logic."

"It does," Edward added quietly. I wondered what my most sensitive brother must be thinking. He looked over at Bella, and I knew he was probably wishing that he'd known the secret to becoming a human before he'd transformed her. I was sure he would have given up this life in an instant to live out a mortal life with her, rather than going through all the mental and emotional torment that the two of them had experienced. Edward grimaced at me, then reluctantly gave me a small nod.

_But if things hadn't turned out the way they did, would you still have Nessie?_

Edward sighed and turned his gaze to his daughter, who was oblivious to most of the anguish in the room. I was fairly certain that he thought it was worth everything, all of it, and that he would do it all over again just to make sure Nessie was part of his life. Once again, he gave me a nod.

"The real question," Rosalie spoke up, her voice quieter than I'd ever heard it before, "remains the same. Why is Aro human? How did it happen? If Rowan's talent was simply to temporarily transfer others talents among each other, why should this have turned Aro into a human?"

This discussion had gone on for hours, and we still had only the vaguest guesses, none of which made any sense at all. Had his sister somehow laid some kind of curse upon him at her death, broken at the moment that his treachery was discovered? Did Marcus find some way to do this to him out of revenge? We were grasping at straws, but none of us was willing to give up. Aro was growing weary of the conversation, his attention span not what it had once been. His eyelids started to droop, and I had the distinct feeling we'd be losing him soon enough for a few hours. Before he had a chance to drift off to sleep, Jacob finally spoke up for the first time in hours. I'd nearly forgotten he was even here.

"I've been trying to stay quiet and keep my nose out of vampire business, but there's something I've always been a little curious about but never asked," he said.

"Of course, Jacob," Carlisle answered patiently, and Aro seemed to start back to wakefulness for the time being. "You're a part of the family. You don't need to remain silent if you have a question or comment to add."

All eyes in the room, golden except for Nessie's chocolate brown and Aro's shade of toffee, turned to face the massive man. Embarrassed by the sudden attention, Jacob began to stammer. "Well, err, I just wondered, uh... See, my dad has a theory about why it is that we—wolves—why we fall in love the way we do. Why we imprint. He believes that we do it to further the bloodline, to uh, find a mate who will help us make stronger wolves." His face flushed as he seemed to try desperately not to look at Nessie, at least not with Edward in the room. "It always made sense to me that way. But there doesn't seem to be any reason why you guys—vampires, I mean—seem to fall in love in basically the same way. But I've seen it. Carlisle and Esme, Alice and Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett, Bella and Edward, Kate and Garrett... It was the same way for all of you, wasn't it? You met the other person and it was like... Like the universe made sense all of a sudden. Like you'd found the entire reason you'd been put on the planet in the first place. I don't know if I'm making any sense..." He trailed off and lapsed back into silence.

"I see what you're asking," Carlisle replied kindly. "Your imprinting is a biological imperative. Vampires are incapable of reproduction, or rather, the females of our species. Therefore, it makes little sense to you that we should experience a similar phenomenon. Your observation is correct though; the way we fall in love with our mates is very similar to imprinting, as I understand it. I've never heard of vampire mates separating..." Aro winced momentarily before pulling himself back together again.

"Until now," Bella finished. "Does anyone else think it's strange that Aro is the first vampire ever to be rejected by his mate, and also the first vampire ever to become human again?"

None of us had anything to say to this revelation. She was right. There was definitely a connection. It was too big of a coincidence otherwise.

Edward frowned. "If what you're suggesting is true, it seems that this may indeed be the reason why we find our mates the way we do. Perhaps it _is_ a biological imperative for us as well. For centuries, humans have been claiming that they trust their partners with their hearts and souls. Perhaps that is more literal with our kind."

"So, if a mated pair of vampires separate..." Carlisle began slowly.

"Sulpicia is still a vampire though," Alice interjected. "I've seen her. As I've said, she seems happy. I guess it explains why, if she doesn't want Aro anymore. Sorry, Aro," she added upon seeing his look of discomfort.

"It's all right," he said softly. "I'm glad to know that she's safe and happy."

"But wait," Kate spoke up. "Garrett and I have spent a great deal of time apart, as did Edward and Bella. As you can see, all four of us are still immortal." Couldn't argue with that point. They were definitely all blood-drinking, indestructible, bona fide vampires. And while Kate and Garrett's arrangement was temporary and circumstantial, Edward had actually left Bella, believing it to be permanent. Bella had actually still been human at the time, but shouldn't the separation have turned him into a human if that was the key?

"No," Edward said in response to my thoughts. He clarified for the others. "Emmett was speculating that my separation from Bella, since we all believed it to be permanent, should have turned me back into a human if we're on the right track with our reasoning. But there was a huge difference. If you remember, Bella never stopped caring for me. She believed that I was gone and was never coming back, yes, but she never waved for one moment in her feelings for me. Forgive me if I am incorrect in my assessment, Bella love."

"No, you're correct," Bella answered in a small voice. She didn't particularly care to relive those months of her life, and we all strived not to bring it up in front of her or Edward. In this instance though, there was no other choice. It had to be discussed.

"Aro, I know this must be dreadfully painful for you," Edward went on, "but according to your story, Sulpicia seemed to genuinely reject you. She seemed to truly not ever want to see you again."

I was certain that Aro was fighting back tears. He opened his mouth for a moment, but he didn't seem to be able to make any sound come out. He closed it again, clenched his eyes shut as tightly as he could, and nodded his agreement.

It was Rosalie who spoke up now, and I didn't especially care for the excited tone of her voice. "So you're saying that if a vampire _rejects_ his or her mate, the mate will become human again?"

"We have nothing more to go on than a guess, Rosalie," Carlisle's voice carried a hint of sternness as he answered her query. I guessed that he, too, could hear the hopefulness in her voice. What did she expect from me anyway? Did she really think I was going to randomly up and stop loving her? As if that were even possible. As if I were even capable of living one minute of one day without longing for her to be near me. She could leave me if she wanted, move to the other side of the country, the other side of the world, but it wouldn't make her human again, because I would never stop waiting and hoping for her return.

If she thought otherwise, she was nuts.

"I'm a little surprised this has never come up before," Alice added. "If this has existed for all this time, why has it _never_ happened that even _one_ vampire has become a human again?"

"Perhaps it has, at some point in history," Esme answered. "We all know how vague and inaccurate any written tales of the existence of vampires are."

"That's true," Alice frowned. "But why would it have never been told in whispers and tales passed down from one vampire to another?"

"I imagine that any vampire who became human again would have worked to hide from others of his or her kind," Aro answered. "The only reason I was able to tell you of what took place is because I knew that your two covens resisted human blood. If I had not been able to come to your cousins for help, you would have assumed me dead when no one saw or heard from me again, would you not?"

"Also true," Alice mumbled. "Actually, we did sort of think you might be dead, except that Sulpicia wasn't in mourning." The pain he'd felt before at hearing his wife's name seemed to be less now that Aro knew that she was happy.

"In any event, what happened to cause Aro's wife to reject him was rather extreme," Edward added. "I doubt that many things could interfere with the bonds we have with our mates. I, for one, cannot imagine or conceive of anything that might cause me to so thoroughly reject Bella, no matter how badly I may wish that I had not taken her humanity from her as I did."

I shifted uncomfortably as I noticed that all of the mated vampires in the room agreed with Edward's assessment, except for one.

Rosalie.

"Guess that answers my question," Jacob grunted.

"It's not a question we would have had an answer for days ago, and we really have no way to be certain that our answer is correct," Carlisle informed him. "Still, it seems the most valid theory any of us have come up with." He glanced at the large clock on the wall of the kitchen. "Goodness, it's two in the morning. Aro you must be exhausted. Renesmee and Jacob as well. You're all welcome to stay here tonight if you wish. We have more than enough beds."

Tanya was eager to stay awhile longer while Aro slept. I had a feeling there was more she still wished to discuss once he was safely out of the room. Nessie volunteered to show Aro to one of the beds upstairs on her way to claim one herself. Jacob indicated that he wasn't especially tired. His sleep schedule was a little out of whack because of the patrols he had to run at odd hours sometimes, so no one questioned him. Still, from the way he was eyeing Tanya, I suspected he wanted to keep hanging around as a representative of the pack for whatever other topic of conversation she had in store. Once again, Edward nodded in my direction. Was it ever possible, just once, to have a stray thought that he didn't help himself to? His quiet chuckle answered that question neatly enough for me. Ah well. His brain-picking had come in handy more than once. Guess I could live with it, all things considered. Besides, I got my revenge pretty regularly when he was forced to see all the thoughts I had that starred Rosalie in various states of undress. Edward scowled at me in a very un-father-like way.

The twelve of us who remained behind sat around making idle chit-chat for awhile, until the sounds of Aro's breathing and heart rate from Carlisle and Esme's bed upstairs left us confident that he was fast asleep. Nessie seemed to be asleep as well in Edward's old room, although we were far less concerned about her overhearing. She'd probably just pump Jacob for information in the morning anyway, and he'd just roll over and give it to her. Thus the nature of imprinting.

"Okay," Tanya said, keeping her voice low so as not to risk waking Aro. "So now you guys know the situation. The question is, what do we _do_ with him?"

Carlisle looked thoughtful for a moment. "It would be extraordinarily difficult for him to re-integrate into society. We have contacts that can get him papers and the like, anything he would need to take up residence or get a job or any other pursuit he may wish to follow. We have more than enough money to help him get settled somewhere."

"No, no, no, you're thinking too broadly," Tanya interrupted impatiently. "That's not what I meant at all. Think more immediate. What is our highest rule?"

"To keep the existence of our kind hidden from humans," I answered automatically.

"And what is Aro, if not a human who knows of the existence of our kind?" Tanya whispered fiercely.

What? "Tanya, be reasonable," I sputtered, unable to help myself. "It's not as if—"

"Not as if what?" Kate interjected. "Not as if we have anything to worry about from him? You think we can trust him? Trust him to maintain order? You think Aro's the type of person who would give up an opportunity for power and attention? The sort who would live out a nice, low-key lifestyle, retire somewhere sunny and live out his days picking up women in bars and learning to surf?"

I didn't even bother opening my mouth. I couldn't argue with a word she'd said. Aro didn't have the kind of power at his disposal that he'd once had; this much was indisputable. But he did still have a power. He had the power to turn us in, and it was a power he could hold over our heads. He had nothing to lose from the discovery of our kind now, with the exception of his own life. What did he care about that anymore? He was a fish out of water, and his days were numbered as any mortal's days were. Sure, he might die within days or even hours after exposing our kind to the world, but he'd die a legend. I was sure he would find that a better alternative than dying an ordinary man in a mundane existence.

"The law is clear," Kate went on. "There are only two ways to deal with a human who knows of the existence of vampires: They must either be killed or turned."

"Now wait just one damn minute," Jacob was shaking as he spoke. I really hoped he wouldn't phase again. To begin with, I didn't feel like rummaging through my clothes for him again, and I also wasn't sure how Tanya, Kate, and Garrett might react. Sure, they knew he was a wolf and they'd seen him in wolf form, but he hadn't been threatening them at that time.

"This doesn't concern you, Wolf," Tanya told him. She was well aware of his name. I guessed she didn't care much for the fact that he was a part of our family now, and by extension, hers. "This is a matter to be handled among vampires."

"Oh but I think it does, Vampire," Jacob replied. Unlike earlier when he'd addressed us, he didn't seem flustered in the slightest. "My pack is sworn to protect life. Human life. We ally with the Cullens because it's clear that they're worth protecting, every bit as much as humans are." I was a little touched by Jacob's words. "We don't kill _you_ because you don't kill humans either, and because Carlisle asked us not to. If you _do_ kill a human though, all bets are off where you're concerned. There's a lot more of us than just me, you know, and I doubt the three of you could stop us all."

"Do you really think Carlisle and his family would stand idly by while you destroyed us?" Tanya laughed. "Could you stand to fight against your friends for the sake of that man upstairs, whom you know has taken tens of thousands of lives?" Jacob fell silent. I didn't think the pack would be fighting Tanya, Kate, and Garrett over Aro, no matter what they did.

"No," Carlisle added his two cents. "No, I don't like this. I don't want to anger our allies. I want to keep to the spirit of our agreement. I also want our family to be worth protecting, and I don't know that I feel that killing Aro would be compatible with that viewpoint."

"But he's too dangerous to be turned," Kate hissed. "In truth, we don't even know if he _can_ be turned again."

"Is this why Eleazar and Carmen didn't accompany you?" Carlisle asked. "Did he disagree with how you wished to handle the situation?"

"Yes," Tanya answered. "During his time among the guard, Chelsea worked her magic on him, binding her to Aro and the others. Despite everything Aro has done in recent years and everything Eleazar has come to realize Aro was doing all along, he still cannot bring himself to destroy Aro. He would prefer to turn Aro again, believing that he will no longer be welcome with the Volturi and therefore will not be so dangerous. Can you imagine though? Aro, with his hunger for power, and with Eleazar as an ally once more, would be able to build a formidable force all on his own. It could result in a power struggle between Aro's new group and the Volturi. No matter who would win in such a standoff, we would all lose."

"Perhaps there is still a way we could allow him to live out his human life," Carlisle said after a few moments of thought. "He was accustomed to never leaving the Volturi grounds. I don't think it would be too much of a stretch for him to stay in one place. We could keep him somewhere, under guard. It would only be for a few decades until he passed away on his own."

Tanya could barely contain her fury at this suggestion. "You would have me protect the man who murdered my mother? My sister?"

Carlisle held up a hand. "I simply think it best if we consider all of our options before we make any decisions. Alice, I hate to ask too much of you right now, but do you see any immediate danger if we hold off on making a decision for a short while?"

Alice's eyes went out of focus momentarily, then she blinked and snapped back to reality with the rest of us. "I think it will be all right for now. I can't see very far ahead with him because there are so many decisions to be made, so we'll have to just take things a day at a time."

"Fine," Tanya snarled. "But we will be leaving him here with you. You can take responsibility for watching him, if you're so content to allow him to live."

"Very well," Carlisle answered formally. "We have more than enough accommodations for him right here, and there are eight of us who can take it in turns to ensure that he is never unaccompanied."

Great, just in case our lives weren't complicated enough already, now we were going to have to babysit Aro. How did we always get into these messes?


	9. Guest

**Hi guys! I want to apologize for my author's notes in the last chapter. I'm not usually one to flat-out beg for reviews (although I love them). I'm just frustrated because my last story seemed to get a lot more attention than this one is, and the only explanation I can think of is, maybe people just don't like Emmett. Well, _I_ like Emmett! Anyway, I'm still a wee bit new at this fanfic writing thing, and I feel like I committed a breach of etiquette in my phrasing last chapter. Please don't feel obligated to review. If you want to leave a comment or complaint or suggestion or anything, I would love it, but I'm definitely not writing this story for recognition or glory, and you never have to worry that I'll deliberately withhold chapters if I'm not happy with my number of reviews or anything silly like that. I post chapters as soon as they're finished, always, sometimes to the detriment of proper proofreading. =)  
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**I think I may have committed a faux pas in my author's notes in this chapter originally, which led to it being taken down. I am reposting the chapter without the aforementioned faux pas in the hopes that's all it was. So, if you have this on story alert and you got two emails about the same chapter, I'm sorry!  
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**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Nine - Guest

It really didn't take long for Aro to wear out his welcome.

Not that we could do anything about it. We were stuck with him. We couldn't kick him out where he might wind up doing something that would end, not just our way of life, but the way of life for every vampire in existence. We couldn't give him over to anyone else to watch; we were still trying to keep Aro's human transformation a secret, and plus, there really wasn't anyone outside of the Denali clan that we could trust not to kill him. Although, sometimes it seemed like a pretty good alternative.

"Remind me again why we can't just kill him?" Jasper muttered under his breath in a voice too quiet for Aro to hear, echoing my thoughts.

"Because if we did that, our family would be sinking to the level he once held," Alice replied sweetly. "Besides, he's not _so_ bad."

"Esme!" Aro called loudly from the couch five feet away. Surely he couldn't have forgotten that we'd hear him even if he whispered. "I'm hungry again!"

We continued our conversation in tones too low for human ears. "Alice, he's been here for a week. He doesn't do anything except sit on the couch, watch TV, and make stupid lists of stuff he wants us to buy him. Plus, he kind of smells."

"Well you scared him from the shower!" Alice scolded me.

"I never said he couldn't shower!" I shot back. "I _want_ him to shower!"

"He's scared you'll yell at him again. You forget how intimidating you are to humans."

I sighed. The incident to which Alice referred had not been one of my finer moments. I prided myself on never losing my cool, but Aro had pushed my buttons from the very first day.

* * *

He had woken up the morning after he first arrived and immediately started to go outside. I stopped him, telling him that if he needed something outside, I'd go with him. He looked at me strangely, then shrugged his shoulders and told me to do whatever I wanted. Once we had gotten a short distance from the house, Aro had horrified me by dropping his pants and squatting down to the ground.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I hadn't been able to control myself at all.

"I am—what's the polite term—relieving myself," he replied.

I had thought I was appalled before, but my shock was amplified tenfold. "Aro, we have a room for that. In the house. Do you need me to show you where it is?"

"Oh, but Tanya told me I couldn't use that room anymore," he explained.

"Well, this isn't Tanya's house. Come on," I replied. He seemed grateful as he hitched his pants back up and stood, following me back inside. I led him upstairs and to the end of the hall where the restroom was. We used it to shower; vampires didn't have body odor, but we still needed to shower a couple of times a week to wash off any dirt and grime we'd managed to accrue. Jacob regularly used it for its other intended purpose, so we were quite certain it was up to snuff. He was good about letting us know when we needed to restock the toilet paper, plus we took inventory anytime we showered. There should have been no reason why Aro would run into any kind of problem.

I had vastly underestimated Aro's ability to run into problems.

After showing Aro where the restroom was, I headed back downstairs to rejoin the rest of the family. Tanya, Kate, and Garrett were going to be heading out shortly, and we wanted to make sure we gave them a proper farewell. Nessie was still asleep, and Bella and Edward had run to their cabin to pick up some more clothes and personal affects for the three of them, since it seemed that they'd be spending a little more time than usual at the main house until we figured out what to do about Aro. In hindsight, it was too bad. Edward might have come in handy in preventing disaster.

We were all gathered around making conversation, and I hadn't paid attention to how much time had passed. After about thirty minutes, Tanya had looked at me with a puzzled expression. "Did Aro go back to sleep? He usually stays up for awhile once he wakes up."

"No, he went to use the restroom," I told her.

"In the house?" She snickered.

"Of course in the house," I snapped. "I understand that you hate him for what he did to your family, but I don't understand why you guys felt the need to treat him like an animal."

"Perhaps you'd better go check on him," Tanya replied. She hadn't seemed to be bothered in the slightest by my small outburst. Rosalie was glowering at me for my rudeness, so I figured it seemed like a pretty good idea to go see if Aro was all right if it would get me out of the room for a minute to let her simmer down. I trudged back up the stairs, trying to remember to act a little more human in our present company.

I rapped lightly at the door, ignoring the overpowering odor. "Aro? Everything all right in there?" That was when I noticed the water on the floor.

"Oh drat, I was trying to fix it," Aro wailed from inside. "This is just what happened at Tanya's house!"

"Um... Can I come in? Do you have your pants up?" I really wasn't in the mood to see a lot of Aro again.

There was a short pause before Aro finally replied. "All right, come in." I opened the door to find Aro standing in front of a completely overflowing toilet, trying to scoop water into the bathtub using the trash can. A roll of toilet paper was floating on top.

"I don't understand what happened!" he cried. "I did, you know, what humans do. Then I added the paper and flushed. The water kept coming up and coming up, so I added more paper and flushed again. No matter how much paper I added, the water just kept coming up!"

I was sure I must have misheard him. "You clogged the toilet with paper, so you added _more_?"

"What? No! The water was too high, so I added more paper to soak it up!"

I stared at him. "Aro, do you understand what toilet paper is for?"

"We didn't have it three thousand years ago, but as I understand it, it's to absorb the water in the toilet. It's called _toilet paper_, after all," he told me smugly.

I sighed, shaking my head. "Aro, no, toilet paper is designed to clean yourself up after you use the toilet. You only need a few sheets. You can't put too much in, it'll clog the toilet."

"You what?" Aro blinked several times.

"Never mind, I'll explain later. Okay, we're going to have to get this cleaned up. Let me show you how this works." First, I removed the three complete rolls that he'd put into the bowl and tossed them into the trash can, making a mental note to take out the trash as soon as this was done. I reached for the plunger that we kept under the sink, but I couldn't find it. "Aro, have you seen the plunger?"

"Plunger?" Aro replied, clearly confused by that term.

"It looks like a stick with kind of a rubber cup at the end," I explained. "We normally keep it under here in case of incidents."

"Oh, yes, I used the stick end to push the paper in further."

"Okay. That's not what you use the plunger for. What did you do with it after you did that?"

He pulled back the shower curtain to reveal the dripping wet plunger inside. I grimaced as I picked it up, making another mental note to thoroughly wash my hands and buy a new plunger. I showed him how to use the plunger to unclog the toilet and I flushed again. It took a few more cycles of plunging and flushing to fix the damage, but eventually, all was well.

"Now we just need some towels to mop up this water and it'll be all good as new," I told him, still managing to keep my patience at this point.

"Excellent!" Aro cried delightedly, clapping his hands together in front of him. "Now, you mentioned that toilet paper wasn't actually used to absorb the water in the toilet?"

"Yes, um," I wasn't sure how to explain this politely. "When you, err, when you use the restroom to pass solids? You use the paper to clean up. Just a few sheets. You put the sheets you've used into the toilet. The rest stays on the roll for next time."

"Oh!" Aro replied, embarrassed.

"Aro... Did you... Did you..."

"Err, I thought you were just supposed to change your clothes when you were finished," he informed me.

I sighed. "Okay, that's fine, now you know. We'll get you some more clothes. Why don't I leave you alone for a minute to clean up and then we'll get to work on the floor?"

Aro's embarrassment was apparently manifesting itself as anger. "Well how was I supposed to know that?" Aro snapped at me. "Why don't they call it _bottom paper_ if that's how you use it?"

"I'm sure I don't know why they named it what they did," I answered. "Just clean yourself up, I'll go grab some of Jasper's things, I think they should fit you all right." I left, shutting the door behind me to give Aro some privacy. I headed into Jasper's room and picked out a pair of pants and some boxers. I paused at the closet and grabbed some towels for the floor, then I returned to the restroom, knocking at the door to see if Aro was ready for me yet.

"Come in," he replied. He seemed to be finished, so I handed him the change of clothes and directed him to pick out any of the empty rooms to change in while I cleaned up the water. I could do it much faster than he could.

"Actually, I think I should like to clean myself more thoroughly before I change clothing," he told me. It seemed a reasonable enough request to me. Who knew when the last time he'd taken a shower was?

"All right, let me just clean up this water first." He nodded, and a few seconds later, I showed him where the linen closet was and told him feel free to come here for fresh towels any time he wanted to take a shower. I grabbed up the trash can to throw out the wet toilet paper rolls and towels and left him to his privacy again.

Tanya was smirking at me when I got down the stairs. "You might have taught him how to use things rather than banishing him outside," I told her. "He's not unwilling to learn. He just didn't know better."

"What's he doing now?" she asked.

"Taking a shower," I told her.

"I don't hear a shower," she replied ominously.

"Hell," I muttered. I took out the garbage at my full speed and then went back upstairs at the same pace. I snatched up the pants again that I had forgotten to leave in the bathroom for Aro whe I'd left. "Aro?" I found myself calling again at the door.

"Yes, come in!" Aro called back.

I opened the door to find Aro, having fully stripped down, dunking various parts of his body into the toilet bowl.

"What the hell, Aro?"

"I'm cleaning myself!" he replied proudly, wiping off each part of his body with a towel after he dunked it into the toilet.

That was when I lost it.

"Do you not have any common sense at all?" I shouted, swinging the pants wildly over my head. "Do you not see the shower right there? I know you must have taken showers while you were a vampire, because _we _take them! This isn't rocket science! There's a sink, a toilet, and a shower. You wash your hands in the sink, you do your business in the toilet, you clean your body in the shower. What part of this is too difficult for you to comprehend?"

Aro's lower lip quivered. "I had people who washed me when I was in Volterra," he whispered.

Right, of course he had. Dammit. Why had I shouted at him like that? I never shouted at anyone like that.

"Sorry," I mumbled sheepishly as Aro curled up into a ball and burst into tears. That was enough to wake Nessie up, and she wandered down the hall to find me holding a balled-up pair of pants and standing over a naked, wet, crying human. Without a word, she turned around and walked away, covering her eyes as if they'd been burned with bleach.

* * *

"You don't understand, Alice. You weren't there," I hissed.

"No, but we've all seen the end result. Nessie's shown it to everyone by now, three or four times."

"He really should've gotten over his fear of the shower by now anyway," I muttered. "Okay, so I lost it for a minute, but that was a week ago."

"He's not afraid of the shower," Jasper told me. "He's afraid of you."

Esme was busy taking Aro's food order. "I would like a sandwich, made with Miracle Whip."

"All right, what kind of sandwich do you want?" she asked him patiently.

"A sandwich just isn't a sandwich without the tangy zip of Miracle Whip," he informed her in a serious tone.

Esme sighed. "I'll surprise you then." She started to walk away when he stopped her.

"I saw another product on television that I would like."

"All right. What is it called? I'll add it to the list." Apart from making every type of food Aro saw on television, Esme had spent a large portion of the week compiling a list of every stupid product he saw advertised. He didn't seem to be able to distinguish the difference between commercials and programmed television.

"I don't remember what it's called. It's a blanket with sleeves. I didn't realize how cumbersome regular blankets were until I saw the commercial."

"A snuggie? You want a snuggie?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes! They look delightful!"

Esme didn't say anything further as she slid past us into the kitchen to prepare Aro's sandwich.

"And some Cheetos!" Aro called as a commercial for the same aired.

"Of course," she called back.

"And a Bud Light!"

"Fine," she answered. We never kept alcohol in the house normally, but Aro had been quite insistent after a day or two of watching prime-time television.

I noticed that Rosalie hadn't been making a lot of eye contact over the past week, and whenever I tried to talk to her about it, I got the cold shoulder. _Edward?_ I asked. He looked up. _Do you have a minute to chat? Away from here?_

"Esme, why don't you tell me what's on Aro's list at the moment? I have some free time this morning. I'd be happy to run to Port Angeles. Emmett, would you like to accompany me?" Edward asked politely.

"Sure," I said cheerfully. Esme looked as us doubtfully, and I could tell she was asking Edward something in her head.

"Of course," he answered her.

She shrugged and mentally told him the contents of Aro's most recent shopping list. He nodded and picked up the keys to his Volvo. I tried to kiss Rosalie goodbye, but she seemed suddenly very interested in helping Esme put away the bread and meat from Aro's sandwich.

"And some Axe Body Spray!" Aro shouted.

"Understood," Edward acknowledged, and we retreated out the door before he had time to add anything else. Once we were safely out of earshot of the house, Edward spoke first.

"He really is a nightmare, isn't he?"

"Yeah," I answered. "That isn't what I want to talk about though."

"I know," Edward told me, sighing. Of course he did. There wasn't much he didn't know, after all.

"I'm afraid there is," he answered. "I don't know what's been going on in Rosalie's mind."

"What? What do you mean, you don't know?" He didn't even have to try to read minds; it just came to him.

"Well, for the first few hours after Aro got here, Rosalie was busying herself remembering every single advertising jingle she'd ever heard and singing them in her head in various keys. _Mister Clean gets rid of dirt and grime and grease in just a minute, Mister Clean will clean your whole house and everything that's in it,_" he sang.

"Great. Well she can't keep that up forever," I reasoned.

"No, she can't. Her mind has since become completely silent to me." He took his eyes off the road to give me a meaningful look. It took a full twenty seconds before I comprehended it.

"Bella's repaying the favor she owes," I realized.

Edward nodded, returning his attention to the highway. "Seven years ago, Bella wanted nothing more than to give birth to Renesmee. Of course, if we'd been able to understand what was going on, we would have all been in agreement, but none of us were on her side. None but Rosalie. If not for Rosalie, my daughter might never have been born. Bella has never forgotten that favor. Neither, I would guess, has your wife."

This was bad. Not only was I no closer to figuring out what was wrong with Rosalie, but apparently it was serious enough that she had requested for Bella to shield her thoughts from Edward until further notice. Naturally, Bella was more than willing to help, no questions asked, because she still owed Rosalie a huge favor. I couldn't help feeling that my happy existence was beginning to slowly crumble around me.


	10. Worries

**I normally never work from an outline, but I finished a rough one for the remainder of Vanquished yesterday, just because I have so much going on that I was afraid I would leave out something important. I have a feeling I may be forced to write a sequel when it's finished to address some loose ends I'm likely to leave hanging open at the end. Emmett's story, however, will be wrapped up when it's all said and done, in about another 20 or 30 chapters. =)**

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Ten - Worries

If I had been in the car with anyone else, we would likely have ridden in silence the rest of the way to Port Angeles. Edward's habit of responding to my unspoken thoughts when we were alone prevented me from lapsing into silence altogether. Besides, I wasn't going to let whatever was going on weigh on me too much. It wasn't as if Rosalie could be planning anything that would get to me too badly. Sure, I'd lost it with Aro one time. I'd been back to my normal self ever since. Aro was grating on everyone's nerves, and I hadn't even come close to blowing up at him since that first time.

"So what exactly is on Aro's list?" I asked. I wanted to talk about something, anything, other than speculating about what Rosalie might be planning that was so bad she had Bella blocking her thoughts from Edward for her.

Edward chuckled to himself. "I don't know how many stops we might need to make," he informed me. "Aro has been watching quite a bit of late-night television, and apparently he's quite susceptible to advertising techniques, not having built up any kind of immunity to them over the years like most adults."

Edward proceeded to rattle off a list including dozens of different types of food products, plus a number of as-seen-on-TV items. In addition, Alice wanted us to buy some clothes for him. After only a week of sitting in front of the television, eating junk food, and drinking beer, Jasper's clothes were already starting to get a little snug on Aro.

"What exactly does Aro want with a Sham-Wow anyway?" I wondered aloud. "It's not as if he actually cleans up after himself. Guy can't even be bothered to take a shower."

"He is aware that he should shower," Edward told me as lightly as he could manage. "He's just afraid of angering you again."

Great. Just like Alice and Jasper had said. I'd scared Aro away from showering. The fact that he reeked was my fault. I didn't have the foggiest idea how I was going to make this right.

"Carlisle is planning to speak to him today actually," Edward informed me. "He assumed the reason I'd asked you along on this trip was to make his conversation with Aro a bit easier."

Suddenly, I remembered that Esme had asked Edward something when he first asked me to come along shopping. "Esme had some other idea about what was going on, didn't she?" I asked suspiciously.

Edward snickered. "She wanted to know if I was quite sure I could handle you at the store."

"Oh." In spite of everything, I couldn't keep myself from grinning. "I'll be on my best behavior," I said solemnly.

We stopped first at the supermarket. Edward chose a different place than the one I'd visited before with Esme, to my relief. I really didn't want to go any place where people might remember my bizarre behavior from the last trip. I managed to restrain myself from being too overwhelmed. I passively took in the sights, sounds, and smells while Edward buzzed about the store filling a shopping cart with Aro's personal selections. He spent a comparatively long time in the aisles with cereal and snacks. Before long, the cart was full and Edward went to get a second cart.

"This can't _all _be for Aro," I commented when Edward returned.

"Much of it is," he allowed, "but Esme asked me to pick up some things for Renesmee and Jacob as well."

"I guess it's a good thing our tournament got called off," I muttered bitterly while following Edward around pushing the full shopping cart as he proceeded to fill up a second one. I couldn't even imagine how many shopping carts we would have had to fill if we'd needed to buy things for all the wolves.

"I know it was disappointing for you," he said sympathetically. "There was really no other option though. Aro's presence changes much."

"I know," I sighed. "Plus, it probably would have been too overstimulating for him to be around everyone at once. Still, I was looking forward to kicking those wolves' butts."

Edward turned to face me, grinning. "Perhaps we'll have a chance some other time. You weren't the only one who wanted to find a way to beat them without causing any actual harm."

Surprisingly, it actually made me feel better that I wasn't the only one upset over the cancellation of our tournament. It had been just a small thing, I knew, but I had really been looking forward to it. Our lives were perfect, by most peoples' standards. After all, we would never grow old, never get tired, never become sick, and didn't even need to sleep, so we had plenty of time to pursue our favorite activities. What most people didn't realize was that life could get boring when you did the same exact thing day after day, night after night, without the monotony even being broken up by work or school. As much as we loathed going through high school over and over, it was at least a change of pace to study different things every day, even if they were things we'd already studied dozens of times, and to have people to be around, even if we didn't speak to them much. Living in Forks for so long meant that we had to go into hiding, and being in hiding meant that we were all starting to get just a little stir-crazy. The wolves were the only ones we could be ourselves around, and that was enough to make us not mind their presence so much, even if they stunk.

Without anything constructive to add to the shopping trip, I busied myself by peering at Edward's selections in the full shopping cart while he continued to fill the second cart. Try as I might, I couldn't find a single thing that would remotely pass for healthy food. Considering that Aro was already beginning to put on weight, I wondered what was going to happen when he had an even bigger variety of junk to pick from.

"It's kind of disgusting how this stuff is all that gets advertised, isn't it?" I remarked.

Edward was trying to select meat for Jacob and Nessie and seemed to be having a hard time of it. I could understand that. It smelled absolutely horrid—like death that was beginning to rot. "Yes," he replied to my statement, "but it's also somewhat understandable. The companies who make those products have the most money to spend on advertising."

"True. Still kind of a shame. I mean, I understand that the effect it has on Aro is exaggerated, but it probably has _some _effect on everyone else too."

"I'm sure it does. Everyone else doesn't live with us though." Edward seemed pretty distracted, so I just let the subject drop. I had matters more pressing on my mind anyway than whether or not Aro gained some more weight while he stayed with us.

Rosalie. What was she planning? What could I possibly do to try to give her what she wanted? I knew she wanted to be human more than anything else in the world, but I honestly didn't think there was any possible way I could give her that. Picturing eternity without my Rose in it—it was like picturing misery itself wrapped in pain. It would make her happy though. Could I really begrudge her that, if she figured out a way to make it happen? I was torn.

_Stop worrying about it,_ I reminded myself. Worrying wouldn't solve anything. Whatever was going to happen, it was beyond my control. Rose was going to do what she was going to do, and no one could stop her. Once she set her mind to something, she would achieve it. She was nothing if not strong. All I could do was wait, and worrying wouldn't make the wait any easier.

Edward was listening quietly to my thoughts, of course. He stopped suddenly in front of me, and only my own enhanced reflexes prevented me from plowing the full shopping cart I was pushing into his back. Not that it would have hurt him anyway. "Are you quite certain that Rosalie would be happier as a human than she would be with you?" He spoke in tones that a human would never be able to hear, even standing beside us.

_Of course I can't be _certain_, but it's what she's always wanted. She's made no secret of the fact that she would sooner be human than be with me. I never paid it much mind before, because I never __thought it was possible. _

"I simply do not want you to repeat my mistakes."

_There was a difference. You left because you thought she'd be happier having a normal human life, but Bella didn't _want _you to leave. If this is really what Rose wants, what kind of man am I if I refuse to give it to her?_

"It isn't your fault if you're incapable of giving it to her. If she wanted the moon itself, you wouldn't blame yourself for being unable to capture it and place it into her hands."

That was true enough. I really needed to stop worrying about this. In all my years, I had never once spent much time worrying about anything. I hated that my own happy attitude had changed seemingly overnight.

"Perhaps you've never encountered anything worth worrying about before," Edward remarked.

Argh, I couldn't handle this. I needed normalcy. I needed to take my mind off of Rose and whatever she was plotting or thinking. My mind wasn't built for wallowing in angst and self-doubt. It was built for helping others get through their problems and for kicking back, relaxing, and enjoying life. I needed something to enjoy.

"Now that, I believe I can help you with," Edward smiled at me as he pulled out his cell phone. I could hear Leah on the other end of the line. "Hello Leah, it's Edward. May I speak with your brother please?"

Leah growled something incoherent before answering "Fine, he's a big boy, he can talk to whomever he wants." A few moments later, I heard Seth's voice come through Edward's phone.

"Seth, Emmett is in need of some cheering. I wondered if you might have some free time this afternoon?"

"Of course!" The joy in Seth's voice was contagious. I couldn't keep myself from feeling better even if I'd tried to stay down.

"I hoped you'd say that. We'll see you at our house in a few hours, then?" With that, the plans were complete. I couldn't pretend not to be pleased about the prospect of spending some time around Seth. He was so upbeat and cheerful, it was impossible to be sad and downtrodden around him. He was even better than Jasper at spreading joy. With Seth, you knew that the joy was genuine and had originated from inside you.

I felt much more lighthearted through the rest of our errands. Buying the groceries had gotten us some strange looks, and Edward had been forced to use the same "throwing a party" line that Esme had used last week. After the grocery store, we had stopped at a drugstore that had a large "As seen on TV" section to purchase some more items on Aro's wish list. I couldn't understand what in the world Aro could have wanted with a purse organizer or underwear to make womens' rear ends look better, but Edward just shrugged and picked up the items without questioning. We spent several minutes trying to decide which color Snuggie was appropriate for Aro, finally deciding on the forest green shade because it was least likely to remind him of the robes worn by the Volturi.

"We'll need to be relatively expedient at picking out clothing," Edward commented. "I should have considered the fact that we were buying perishable food items and stopped at the supermarket last."

"Let's just pick him up a few things for now then, and let Alice go on a proper shopping trip for him later in the week," I suggested. She probably wasn't going to like whatever we picked out anyway. Edward nodded his agreement, and we picked out three sets of clothing for Aro from a local department store before heading back to Forks.

Every time I started to feel sorry for myself on the ride home, I remembered that Seth was coming by this afternoon and felt better. I hoped that whatever Rose had planned, she would get it over with pretty soon. I didn't know how much longer I could handle this, and I didn't want to have to keep hauling Seth out every time I started to feel anxious about the future.

We arrived at home in record time, since Edward could tell that there were no police on the way back and felt free to exercise his lead foot to the fullest. Within a minute or so, we'd unloaded all of our purchases, and Esme and Bella set about finding places to store all the food. I decided that maybe Aro would feel more disposed to my presence if I made him a peace offering, and Edward seemed to agree with me, so I approached him with our purchases from the drug store.

"Hi Aro," I said, summoning all the cheer I could for my tone of voice. Much to my relief, it was apparent that he had showered during our absence. Carlisle's talk must have been a success. He flinched noticeably at my approach, cowering slightly against the corner of the couch. I set all the bags down beside him. "We picked up all the things you asked for."

"Oh!" Aro's posture relaxed considerably as he began to peer into the bags cautiously. I got the distinct impression that he thought a snake or something was going to fly out and assault him. I helped him open all the packages, watching his face light up like Nessie's used to do when she was a little girl. I still didn't have the foggiest idea what he planned to do with most of these items, but he was nevertheless pleased to have them. When he got to the Snuggie, he was absolutely delighted.

"Such an exquisite color!" he exclaimed. I could tell just by looking at the thing that it was made of inferior fabric, but I wasn't about to tell Aro that. He pulled it on immediately, and I had to conceal my smirk.

"Maybe we should wash that first? Keep it from making you itchy?" I offered.

"Oh, I suppose that's a good idea," he replied, disappointment evident in his tone.

"Not to worry, you'll have it back in a couple hours. There are some new clothes for you in here somewhere too," I told him, digging through the bags and retrieving the clothing we'd bought for him.

"Oh, very good!" He snatched up the clothes and scrambled up the stairs to change. While he was gone, I tossed his new blanket into the washing machine. Several minutes later, he descended the stairs again, and it was painfully obvious that he was wearing the underwear designed to improve the appearance of womens' rear ends. I managed to contain myself, just barely.

"Lookin' good, Aro," I lied. His rear end was sticking out like one of the girls in a music video, and I couldn't imagine those underwear were particularly comfortable for a man to wear. He was walking a little strangely.

"Thank you," he replied sincerely, seating himself once more on the couch. I guessed he hadn't thought about the fact that no one was going to see his backside when he was sitting on it all the time anyway.

"Seth will be over in a few hours," Edward informed Esme and Bella as he helped them rearrange the cabinets in the kitchen to accommodate Aro's selections.

"Oh, should we prepare something for him?" Esme asked.

"I'm not sure," Edward admitted. "I think he and Emmett will be going out."

"Well, we can always make something quickly if he's hungry," Bella said reasonably.

Rosalie, who had been milling around the room dusting, suddenly stopped and exchanged a look with Bella. She arched a perfectly-manicured eyebrow at Bella, who dipped her head down once. Then, Rose seemed to remember something important she needed to do. I watched uncomfortably as she zipped upstairs, returning seconds later wearing her overalls, then darted out to the garage. Well, maybe she just needed to go out there to de-stress. Working on cars was like a drug to her. Still, I hadn't missed the exchange with my sister. One didn't need to read minds to understand the point of that mini-conversation.

_Am I still shielded?_

_ Yes, of course._

Try as I might, I couldn't stop myself from wondering why she would need to know before going to the garage that Bella was still protecting her thoughts from Edward.


	11. Harmony

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Eleven - Harmony

Rose returned to the house before long, ignoring my questioning look as she'd ignored most of my looks over the past week. Despite the fact that I hadn't needed a moment's rest since the day I became a vampire, I was beginning to feel something that was strangely reminiscent of exhaustion from her nonstop refusal to speak to me or look at me. Plus, after decades upon decades of living a certain way, there was another part of my body that was starting to feel the effects of frustration. I pushed that away, shooting an apologetic glance in Edward's direction. He was deliberately avoiding eye contact, but for an entirely different reason than Rose was. I grinned, despite myself.

I decided to give talking to her another try. Seth would be over soon, and if I made her mad, she'd have plenty of time to recover while I was out of the house. I followed up the stairs as she went to peel her overalls off. Bella was following too, trying to look nonchalant as she continued to stay close enough to Rosalie to keep her shield up. She was good at shielding multiple targets over large distances, but if she wanted to shield a single target with a high degree of accuracy, she had to stay relatively close. I didn't know who she thought she was fooling when she pretended to be wandering aimlessly.

"Rose?" I hesitated, unsure what to say next. Rosalie would have heard me and noticed my scent behind her, so it wasn't as if my presence was a surprise.

"Yes?" Her reply was cold and uncaring, and she still refused to look in my direction.

"Rose, honey, will you please look at me?" I begged.

Reluctantly, Rosalie glanced in my direction, and I could see that she still had love for me in her eyes. She couldn't help that any more than I could. Why couldn't she understand that I was _incapable _of giving her what she wanted?

"Rose, I know what you're trying to do," I said gently, doing my best not to sound accusing. "It's never going to work. Can you please just—"

"—Just _what_, Emmett?" she interrupted. "Pretend that I'm happy with this... this existence? I can't even call it a _life_. Is that what you want? For me to carry out a lie forever just to spare your feelings?"

"You're angry with me?" I couldn't keep the incredulous tone from my voice.

"Of course I'm angry with you!" Rosalie hissed. "All these years we thought it was impossible for any of us to become human again, so I accepted my fate. Now we find out it _is_ possible, and you hold the key to giving me the one and only thing I've ever truly wanted, but you won't do it."

Un-freaking-believable. "_Can't_ do it," I corrected her. "Rose, baby, don't you understand? I can't stop loving you any more than I could read minds like Edward does or shield your thoughts from him like Bella can."

"He _told_ you? That little snitch!" Fury overtook Rosalie's features, and I realized instantly that it had been a mistake to say anything about Bella shielding her thoughts from Edward.

"It came up in conversation," I desperately tried to smooth things over. There was no need for Rosalie to be angry with _everyone_.

"Oh I'm sure it did, just like everything else he spills out 'comes up in conversation.' I swear, if it wouldn't upset Bella and Nessie so much, I'd have half a mind to kill him." I couldn't tell if this was an empty threat or not. She sounded pretty serious.

"Thanks for that," Bella muttered quietly. I hadn't forgotten that she was there, but I'd hoped that she would at least _try_ not to listen in on our conversation. So much for hoping.

Rosalie's tone changed. "Oh Bella, you know I would never hurt you or Nessie like that," she said sweetly. "You have nothing to worry about. It just upsets me that nothing ever stays a secret with him around."

"He's not as bad at keeping secrets as you think," Bella chastised Rosalie. Damn it, why was it so impossible to have a private conversation around here? My attempt at reconciling with my wife had suddenly turned into an argument between her and my sister, and all I could do was stand around and look like an idiot. Bella was oblivious to my presence and continued speaking. "He didn't tell me the true story of what happened to you, or to Esme, opting to let you each tell me yourselves."

Rosalie let out a short laugh. "I suppose that's true. Still, for someone who expects everyone else to guard his secrets so closely, he certainly exercises a lot of liberties with ours."

"What secrets are you guarding for him?" Bella asked suspiciously.

"Didn't you ever wonder about what happened to your truck?" Rosalie's voice changed yet again. It was less cold than it was when she was talking to me, but less sweet than it had been moments before. Her expression was twisted in a smirk.

"Rose. Don't," I pleaded. "Not now."

Bella's nostrils flared at the mention of her old Chevy. For some reason I would never understand, she had loved that thing nearly as much as she'd loved my brother. "What happened to my truck?" she demanded.

"Well, Edward 'let it slip' that he'd gotten you to agree to allow him to replace it when it died. Emmett took it upon himself to make certain it would bite the dust very soon after that." Why, after all this time, was she telling Bella this?

"Emmett?" Bella stormed into the room and whirled to face me, not bothering to stay out of our way any longer. "Is that true?" Thank goodness she hadn't found out about this while she was still a newborn. She probably would've ripped me to shreds where I stood, supreme control or not.

"Well, yes, but—" I stammered helplessly.

"I thought we were friends!" Bella shrieked. "I even considered you my favorite brother!" I cringed, hoping ridiculously that Jasper hadn't heard. Not that it would have been a big deal if he had; we didn't exactly make a secret with one another that we had favorite brothers and sisters. Bella's feelings had never been the least bit hurt that Rosalie was Jasper's favorite sister, so why would he be upset at the revelation that I was Bella's favorite brother? Still, there was enough turmoil in this house already. I wasn't eager to stir up even more.

"We are, Bells." In desperation, I used the nickname that Jacob and Charlie used for her, hoping it would soften her up a little. "It's just—I wanted you to have a nice car."

Bella still looked angry, but I could see her features slowly returning to normal. Was it the name that had done it? I'd have to file that piece of information away in case I ever managed to piss her off again. "You might have _asked_ me first. There's plenty of room in this garage that I could've kept both. I hate how everyone in this family was always making all my decisions _for_ me when I was human, as if I were too stupid and lowly and incapable of making them for myself."

"I'm sorry," I told her sincerely.

She scrutinized my face, puckering her eyebrow in thought. "I don't think you are," she answered finally. "You don't know what it's like to be the only human in this group. Everyone treating you like you're some piece of papier-mache that might crumble if no one is hovering over it and protecting it from some weird outside influence. Most of all, being treated like you're less important than everyone else. I feel sorry for Aro." Her voice dropped to a quieter tone as she continued, making sure our guest couldn't hear. "I know he's irritating, but I also know what he's going through, probably better than anyone else here. Being abandoned by someone you love and being treated like a nuisance by a group of vampires. The poor guy doesn't even have anything to do except watch TV and think up things to buy, and all anyone can do is complain about him being here." Her voice shook as it always did when she spoke of being abandoned by Edward, but she recovered quickly.

"Bella, we—I never thought of you as a nuisance," I told her, not wanting to speak on behalf of all of us. Rosalie and Jasper had certainly disagreed, and I wasn't about to lie to her about that. Great, _now_ my efforts at getting back on Rosalie's good side had turned into an argument with my sister. Honestly, what did a guy have to do to get a little privacy around here?

"Bella?" Another voice had arrived on the scene. Seriously, was the entire family going to gather up here to watch me try and fail at getting my wife to talk to me?

"Hi sweetie. I'm sorry, your aunt and uncle and I were just having a little disagreement," Bella told Nessie warmly. On the plus side, if there was one person who might be able to break up this feud, it was Nessie.

"I know," Nessie said. "I wish you all wouldn't fight so much. It's, well, it's..." At a loss for words, Nessie placed her hand on Bella's cheek. Bella's eyes stared far away for a few seconds, then came back to reality.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize this was upsetting you so much. Okay, Emmett, you're forgiven, but if you _ever _try to do something like that again without talking to me first..." Her voice trailed off, the threat unfinished.

"Yes'm. Um, Bella?" I wasn't quite sure if I should tell her the other half of the story or not. It might make her even angrier. She was looking at me, expecting me to say something though. It was now or never. "Your truck didn't exactly get hauled off to a salvage yard like we told you. Edward couldn't stand to get rid of something you loved so much, so, we sort of have it on one of our other properties."

"_What?_" Bella shrieked. "How did no one tell me about this?" She shot her accusing glare not at me, but at Rosalie.

"I had nothing to do with it," Rosalie defended herself. "No one even told me about it. I'm just as surprised as you are."

"Who else knew about the truck?" Bella demanded of me.

"Just Edward and me," I said lamely. Fabulous, now I'd gotten Edward in trouble.

Bella fumed for a moment, clenching and unclenching her fists. I had a feeling if Nessie wasn't standing right there, it would have been a lot worse for us all. "I am going to go have a word with Edward," she said between gritted teeth. "Rose, try not to think anything you don't want him to hear for the next minute or so. I'm going to take him to the cottage to talk though, so you'll be safe shortly."

Bella stomped off, and as I watched her go, I realized just how frightening she could be when she really wanted to. Nessie lingered behind helplessly, unsure whether to follow her mother or not. "I wouldn't," I told her. "This is between her and your dad, and it goes back to before you were born."

Nessie nodded, then turned to Rosalie. Without a word, she pressed her hand against Rosalie's cheek. Just as Bella had done, Rosalie seemed to be staring at something far away for a moment, then returned to the present. "I'm sorry, Nessie," she whispered. "I wish I could help you to understand."

"So you won't stop?" Nessie looked at her aunt, her soft brown eyes pleading.

"I'm sorry," Rosalie repeated. Her expression was mired in pain and guilt. This was, quite literally, the first time she had ever denied Nessie something she wanted.

"I just want things to go back to how they were before Aro showed up," Nessie pouted.

So did I.

Rosalie looked thoughtful for a moment, catching my gaze. I was sure I must have looked pathetic. I _felt_ pathetic. Maybe it was the look that had played on her sympathies. She sighed. "I'll try to be a little nicer, for your sake Nessie" she finally said. "I can't promise I'll give up entirely though."

I breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently satisfied with the outcome, Nessie left to rejoin the remainder of the family downstairs. We'd already heard the door slam, signaling Bella and Edward's departure, so I guessed she'd be spending some quality time with Alice, Jasper, Carlisle, and Esme.

"Now where were we?" I said to Rosalie.

She regarded me carefully. "I don't mean to hurt you," she told me honestly. "You must understand what it means to me, to have a chance after all this time at being human again. At being a mother."

"I do understand that, Rose. If I could give it to you, I would. Could you do it, Rose? Could you up and change your feelings for me just because it was what I wanted?"

Rosalie stared at me for a long moment before walking over to the bed. "I don't know," she answered truthfully. "I would try."

"You're stronger than I am, then. I can't imagine life without you." I sat beside her and cautiously reached for her, rubbing a smudge of dirt from her face that she'd gotten while working out in the garage.

"I know," Rosalie answered softly. I noticed that she didn't return the sentiment. Apparently, she could imagine life without me just fine. The idea burned through me like fire, but I did my best to ignore it as I pulled Rosalie toward me in an embrace. She didn't rebuff me. I was sure that she'd "happened" to let slip to Bella the truth about her truck as another attempt at getting me angry with her, but really, it was about time somebody told Bella the truth, so I decided to let it slide without further mention.

Surprisingly, I felt Rosalie's hands reach back for me, and I left the bed momentarily to shut the door. Evidently, we weren't going to be needing words any longer.

By the time Rosalie and I were finished "making up," Seth had already arrived, and Bella and Edward had returned to the house. Seth was always so upbeat; he didn't mind waiting at all. He and Edward were relaxing on the couch playing a game while Aro looked on with fascination. Someone had returned his Snuggie to him, and he was shrouded in the ridiculous forest green shade. Apparently, Bella and Edward had worked out their differences as well. I'd have to find out later what had been agreed upon. I really didn't need cheering up anymore now that Rose and I were okay, and I wasn't really sure whether I should leave while she was still in a good mood. I didn't want to turn Seth away though; he was always so excited about dropping by.

"Hi Emmett," Seth called from the couch.

"Hey Seth," I grinned. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been in this good of a mood.

"Rosalie, can I talk to you for a second?" Bella didn't wait for her to respond; she grabbed her by the arm and tugged her into the kitchen. I watched curiously as the two of them talked about something in hushed tones.

"So what's on the agenda for today?" Seth interrupted.

"Oh, I hadn't really planned anything," I answered, still trying to figure out what Bella and Rosalie were talking about. Maybe Rosalie was going to let Bella drop the shield now that things were all right between us? No, that couldn't be it. Bella had been the one who wanted to talk to Rosalie, not the other way around.

"Well, I thought maybe we could head out to Seattle to do some shopping at some of the game stores out there?" Seth said hopefully. "I know we had to cancel the tournament, but that's no reason we can't go shop for games, is it?"

I was torn. On one hand, I wouldn't mind heading to Seattle with Seth to shop for games, but on the other hand, I really didn't want to take a chance at upsetting Rosalie now that she'd just finally stopped regarding me as an insect. However, my dilemma was resolved before I had a chance to open my mouth.

"Bella and I are going out for awhile," Rosalie announced, returning to the living room. "_Apparently_, Edward and Emmett saw fit to stow her truck, and she wants me to take a look at it and see if I can reverse whatever damage the two of them did to it. We might not be back until tomorrow."

"Oh, but that's wonderful news, Bella!" Esme cried. "I know how much you loved that truck."

"Yeah, I did. I only wish I'd known about it sooner," she said, glaring in Edward's direction.

"Do you need to take my Jeep?" I asked. I knew Rosalie was going to need her tools and didn't like getting her BMW dirty.

"No," Rosalie answered quickly. "No, thank you for the offer, but we'll take my car. I don't like driving the Jeep over long distances." I shrugged, turning my attention back to Seth.

"Yeah, Seattle sounds good," I told him. If Rosalie wasn't going to be home all night, there was no special reason not to go spend the day in Seattle with Seth.

"Excellent," he grinned, his excitement contagious as usual. "I did some checking online and found a few places out there that deal in older, classic systems. Might be fun to check out."

"Take at trip down memory lane?" I grinned back. Seth was too young to remember half of the classic gaming systems, but I did. I'd been around for Pong and Atari and everything else. He rose from the couch and we started toward the door, as did Bella and Rosalie. Seth had a change of clothes tucked under his arm, probably in case of accidental phasing. I wished Jacob would think ahead like that. The four of us walked together to the garage.

"Bye honey, have fun," I said to Rosalie as we were preparing to enter our respective cars.

"Of course I will," she beamed. She'd hated that truck as much as I had, but she reveled in the idea of making it work again. I kissed her goodbye, and we managed to pull apart before Seth or Bella had to clear their throats. Seth clambered into the passenger seat of my Jeep. As I backed out of the garage, I could have sworn I saw Rosalie throw an apologetic look in Seth's direction. Maybe the guilt that Nessie had thrown at her had made her feel badly about mistreating the wolves, too? No, I was probably just imagining it. Rosalie had nothing in particular to apologize to Seth for.


	12. Unlucky

**Happy birthday to me! Yes, I know, I'm a nerd for sitting around writing a chapter on my birthday, but shoot, I've been waiting to write this chapter _preeeeeeeetty _much since I started writing this story, so what they hey right? Also, I had some ice cream cake, so it's all good!**

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Twelve - Unlucky

"Mind telling me why Edward thought you needed to be cheered up?" Seth asked amicably. "You seem pretty happy to me."

It was true. I was happier than I'd been in about a week and a half. Things were basically all right in my world again. Aro was still around, and we still had not a clue what to do about him, but I was sure I'd be able to tolerate his presence much more easily now. His absence from the Volturi also brought about concerns that our family hadn't even begun to discuss yet. In spite of his formidable gift, Aro had actually been far more level-headed and even-tempered than Caius. Sooner or later, I'd have to deal with everyone wringing their hands frantically about the fact that Caius was in charge, and we'd be right back to all the emotional drama that I could barely handle. For now though, things were looking fine again. Rose was speaking to me again. The two of us were okay. That mattered a hell of a lot more to me than whether or not Caius still held some freakish grudge against us.

"A lot has changed since this morning, kid," I told Seth, unable to keep the smirk off my face.

"Hey!" Seth made an unsuccessful attempt at sounding indignant. "I'll have you know I'm twenty-two years old!"

"Is that right? Still a kid, as far as I'm concerned," I grinned.

"We can't _all _ be ancient old geezers," he jibed back at me.

"With age comes wisdom and experience," I informed him in a deadpan tone. Seth rolled his eyes and punched me in the arm playfully. "Didn't anyone ever teach you to respect your elders?"

"Yeah, Leah's been using that line on me since I was about two years old. If it didn't work for her, I doubt you're going to have much luck with it."

I snorted. "Leah's just a kid too." I winced automatically, realizing I'd struck a nerve.

"Hey, leave my sister alone. She's been through a lot. I know she can be a pain in the ass, but cut her some slack," Seth's tone of voice changed just enough to let me know that he was serious before he lapsed back into his typical joviality.

"Sorry man," I apologized sincerely. "How's everything going out there anyway? You two holding up all right as roomies?" Sue Clearwater had finally made the decision to move in with Charlie Swan a couple of years before. Leah and Seth had kept the house, which had been in the family for generations.

"Oh yeah, it's swell," Seth's sarcasm was exaggerated as he struggled to keep from cracking a smile. "Leah's a super roommate. She never minds if I forget to put my shoes away, and she's certainly never spent half an hour screaming at me because I ate the last of the leftovers. Still though, we're doing all right." Leah had managed to graduate from college around the same time that Sue moved out, despite the demands of belonging to the pack, and she had taken up a job as a copywriter for the local newspaper. Seth, much more excited about being a wolf than his sister, had opted not to go to school. He was working as a janitor for some office building in Forks. It was honest work, and it paid his portion of the bills, but I still got the distinct impression that some of those closest to him were a little disappointed that he hadn't pursued higher education. Carlisle would have gladly paid for his and Leah's education, as well as anyone else in the pack who wanted to go to school, but none of them would hear of it. Jacob wouldn't even let us buy him a decent car.

"Leah's a pistol, that's for sure," I remarked, careful not to say anything that would offend him again. "She's got a good heart under that gruff exterior though. Anyone who's been around her can tell, even if they're technically her mortal enemy."

"Oh, that," Seth waved a hand dismissively. "Pardon the pun, but her bark is a lot worse than her bite. I think she actually likes you guys, if for no other reason than because you give her somebody to antagonize who won't be reduced to tears."

"Probably," I agreed. "How's Jacob holding up, for that matter? Nessie sort of gave us the impression that his father isn't in the best of health, but she didn't seem to want to talk about it beyond that."

"Yeah," Seth confirmed sadly. "Well, Billy hasn't exactly been in the best health for quite awhile now. He's only been getting worse since Jacob phased, and when my dad passed away, I don't know, it's almost like Billy doesn't feel like there's a lot of reason to keep fighting to stay alive. Like he figures the tribe is in good hands with Sam and Jacob in charge. Leah would just as soon Billy stay alive forever if it meant she didn't have to answer to Sam in any way, of course."

"I don't doubt that," I muttered bitterly. I wondered what Leah was like _before _she'd been spurned by the man she thought she was going to marry for reasons neither of them could control. I would have bet she had a much sweeter disposition. Generally, the best course of action was to try to keep her and Rosalie as far away from one another as possible. Neither of them would ever admit it, but they were far too much alike for their own good: Both loathing what they were and taking it out on everyone around them.

"Although," Seth added with a wink, "Billy's spirits seem to have picked up a little since Jacob brought their latest little family member home."

I laughed a little too loudly, remembering the kitten that Nessie had all but demanded Jacob take home with him. "Billy likes Mittens?"

Seth's face broke into a wide grin. "It isn't so much that Billy likes Mittens. It's more that Billy likes watching Jacob trying to take care of Mittens," he explained. "It's hilarious when Jacob thinks about that kitten when we're both in wolf form. He's kind of terrified of it."

"Jacob's terrified of a kitten?" Now I could barely stop myself from openly guffawing. I struggled to keep my attention on the road. "What does he really think a kitten's going to do? Is he afraid it's going to turn into a vampire or something?"

"No, he's not scared of it like that," Seth laughed as he spoke. "See, Jake's spent a lot of time as a wolf. Much more time than the rest of us have. I don't know how much he's ever told you about the time between the newborn battle and Bella's wedding, but he basically gave himself over to his wolf instincts and lived as a wolf for months. Nessie helped him find balance, but the wolf in him is still stronger than it is in the rest of us. So when he looks at Mittens, he can't stop himself from seeing 'vulnerable prey' practically stamped on the kitten's forehead. He has to fight himself to keep from pouncing on the poor thing."

"Which scares him, because if he accidentally hurts the kitten—" I said, comprehending.

"—Nessie would be inconsolable. Exactly." Seth finished. "So basically, he spends most of his time trying to avoid Mittens, who, incidentally, is an extremely friendly little kitten, when he's not around vampires. So Mittens is following him around the house, and Jake's more or less trying to hide from him."

I beat my fist lightly on the steering wheel in a fit of laughter. I could just imagine Jacob Black, who was a full head taller than me and noticeably wider as well, cowering in corners, trying to avoid the tiny gray kitten with white paws.

"The other day, he went to feed the kitten, and while he was pouring food in the bowl, the kitten kind of sauntered quietly into the kitchen. Cats are predators too, you know, so he was able to get in without Jake even noticing. Jake went to set the bowl of food down, and there was the kitten standing on the counter going 'mew?' He nearly phased right then and there, he was so startled." Seth recalled one of Jacob's more recent memories that had been inadvertently communicated to the pack.

"Are you guys giving him a hard time about this?" I was fighting to maintain my composure.

"Quil and Embry are," Seth acknowledged. "Especially Embry. He's the worst. Quil at least understands why Jake has to keep the kitten, since he would do the same for Claire in a heartbeat. Embry's basically declared open season on Jacob though."

We chattered on the rest of the way to Seattle. Seth caught me up on the latest gossip in the packs, and I just listened intently. Sam and Emily were expecting their second child; the first had been born about three years ago. Leah outright refused to babysit, and who could really blame her? She saw the child that should have been hers. Embry was still taking classes, going to school part-time and hitting a new bar every night in the hopes of finding someone to imprint on himself. Paul and Rachel, too, had a baby on the way, but it was the first for the happy couple. Jacob had been none too pleased with the news that he was about to become an uncle, but he'd taken it in relatively good graces. Jared and Kim had decided to wait awhile longer before having children; Jared had essentially taken on the task of keeping the younger members of Sam's pack under control, since Sam and Paul each had their own families to deal with. Kim was all too happy to consider the younger kids to be her own children, helping to cook for them and look after them just as Emily had once done. I had a feeling she and Esme would get along famously if Jared trusted us enough to let her come within a hundred yards of our house.

Quil was something of another story. He saw the strange looks that others in the tribe, people who weren't "in the know" would give him when he was constantly spending time with Claire. While he had nothing to feel guilty for, over time, the accusing glares and whispers had started to make him feel self-conscious. He was also jealous of Jacob, because he could go out in public with his imprintee now without drawing the same sorts of looks. Quil saw it as an injustice that Jacob's imprintee grew so much faster than his, and that Jacob was able to fill his imprintee's parents in on the nature of their relationship. Claire's parents had to be left in the dark, which caused even more strange whispers. The fact that Claire refused to be separated from Quil for more than a day or two at a time only served to increase her parents' sense of alarm. It was difficult to imagine what he must be going through. Claire was only ten years old, after all, and Quil was a man in his twenties who was constantly hanging around with her and didn't have a girlfriend of his own. It _did _look strange to an outsider.

"To be honest, I hope I never imprint," Seth said, serious for a moment. "Sure, most of the guys are happy as can be about it when it happens, but I've seen firsthand the trouble it can cause. For my sister, for Quil..." Seth's voice stopped abruptly, and I got the distinct impression he'd been about to mention someone else, but I didn't press the issue. If Seth wanted to talk about something, he would talk about it.

"Well, maybe you won't," I said reasonably. "It was supposed to be pretty rare, right? No one's imprinted in years either."

Seth shook his head. "Actually, one of the younger guys, Tim, imprinted a couple of years ago. On his English teacher."

I whistled at that dilemma. That must have been what Seth was about to say when he stopped himself. "How's that going to work out?"

"Well, for right now, he can't say anything to her. Kid was only eleven when he phased, you know, back when the pack's population sort of exploded. He missed a lot of school that year, and he got held back. He was sixteen when he imprinted, and he still has a year of high school left. He can't exactly go up to his English teacher and say 'hey, you're my soulmate!' Wouldn't be good for _her_. So he's stuck for now. If it was just _him _that it'd be bad for, it wouldn't be so much of a problem. See also: Quil."

"But he'll be able to talk to her about it next year, right?" I hated to prod like this, but it really was fascinating. I wondered if it would be okay for me to talk to Carlisle about all of this. My father loved new information even more than he loved blood.

"Yeah. Meanwhile he has to see her every day in class and can't do a thing about it." I could certainly sympathize with the young wolf. I'd only spent a week not being able to touch Rosalie, and I'd nearly gone mad from the torment.

We made it to Seattle without incident, despite the speed I was coaxing out of the Jeep. We stopped off at the first place on Seth's list of stores and poked around inside for awhile, chuckling over some of the nostalgic older games and pausing to play a demo that was hooked up and running. We were about to leave when something behind the counter caught my attention.

"Seth!" I grabbed his arm a little more roughly than I'd meant to.

"Ow! Dude!" Seth jerked away and I saw a bruise forming.

"Oops, sorry." It was changing colors right before my eyes, and I knew it would be healed in a minute, or I would have been much more remorseful. "Do you see what's behind the counter?" I whispered hoarsely.

"Hey, a Neo Geo! I've never seen one of those in person before," Seth said excitedly.

"Not just the Neo Geo. Check out the games."

"Um. Sorry man, I'm not up on the older systems, especially the ones I could never afford in a million years," Seth grinned.

"_Metal Slug_, man! It's only one of the rarest games out there! Thing is worth so much money, but it's priceless to a collector." I stared at the game, mesmerized.

"So buy it. What do you care? It's just money, right? Alice can put that much back in your bank account in, what, fifteen minutes on the phone with your family's broker?"

"True," I mumbled. Did I dare? Of course, our family had a tendency to splurge on things. My shirt alone probably cost more than most peoples' wardrobes. But this... This wasn't going to benefit anyone else in the family, and truthfully, it probably wouldn't benefit even me. I'd probably play it once and then keep it behind a glass case. Still... Seth was right, it wasn't as if it would cost a sum of money that would put a dent in our net worth. It wasn't really so different from someone buying an expensive painting, when you got down to it.

I approached the counter, my decision made. "Excuse me, sir," I said to the bored-looking man behind the counter who was busy putting price tags on a new shipment of games. "I'll take that Neo Geo and the games with it." There were a handful of other titles besides Metal Slug. I didn't really want them, but I'd feel stupid only owning one game for the entire system.

He raised his eyebrows at me and turned up one corner of his mouth in a smirk. I wished Edward were here; I'd love to know what this guy was thinking. Probably along the lines of _yeah right kid, as if you could afford it_. "Hope you've got three thousand dollars in your back pocket."

I pulled out my wallet and passed him my black credit card. "I'm sure this will cover it," I said nonchalantly. He blinked in surprise, clearly taken aback.

"Yes sir," he said, straightening up. His entire demeanor changed as he started to ring up my purchase. A few seconds went by, and I noticed him narrowing his eyes at me. "Sir, I'm afraid your card has been declined."

"What? That's not possible. There must be some mistake. Can you try it again?" Never before had my card been declined anywhere, for any amount of money. Esme had practically bought out entire hardware stores with it. Alice had gone on shopping sprees that had caused stores to temporarily close their doors with it. Edward had purchased Bella's Ferrari with it. There was no way a simple three thousand dollar transaction was being declined.

Grudgingly, the man swiped the card again, with the same result. He handed the card back to me with an irritated expression on his face. "Sorry," he said, although I didn't think he actually was.

"Seth, you hang out here for a second, okay? I'm just going to give the credit card company a call and straighten this out," I said, stepping outside. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the phone number on the back of the card. I'd never had a need to call it before, so I hadn't ever committed it to memory.

As soon as I hit the "send call" button, instead of hearing a ring indicating that the call was going through, I heard a few clicks and dead silence. I looked down at my phone and noticed that I wasn't getting a signal at all. That was strange; I'd been to Seattle with this phone quite a few times and never had trouble before. A network outage, perhaps? I went back inside to talk to Seth.

"Hey Seth, my phone isn't working. You don't by chance have one on you?"

"Sorry man, most of us don't carry phones. We have more reliable methods of communication, so we don't really need 'em." Seth looked at me helplessly.

"Right, of course." I walked back up to the man behind the counter. "Can I use your phone for a minute to call the credit card company?"

"That's against store policy," he informed me, a hint of superiority in his tone.

Okay. Time for another approach. "I'm not sure what's going on, but I'm sure I'll have it straightened out in a couple of hours. Can you hold that for me?"

The man smirked at me triumphantly. "That's against store policy," he informed me again. Of course it was. I silently cursed whatever bizarre twist of fate was screwing me over today. Well, really, what were the odds that someone _else _ was going to happen in here today with three grand to drop on a few games anyway? We really just had to get to a pay phone so I could call the credit card company and straighten this out. I knew pay phones were sort of going by the wayside, but there had to be one around somewhere nearby.

"Okay, thanks anyway," I told the man, not particularly grateful for his "help." "Come on, Seth," I said, shuffling out the door feeling embarrassed and disappointed.

"What's the plan?" Seth asked as we got back into the Jeep.

"We're going to find a phone I can use to call the credit card company and find out why my card was declined. I'm sure it's probably something stupid. Maybe we got new cards in the mail or something and nobody told me."

"Things _have_ been a little crazy at your house all week," Seth agreed.

I put the key in the ignition and turned it.

Nothing happened.

I paused, blinking a few times in confusion. I pressed the gas pedal as far as it would go and released it, then put my foot back on the brake before trying to turn the key again. Once more, nothing happened.

"Something wrong, Em?" Seth asked. I barely managed to suppress a growl. That was kind of a stupid question, wasn't it? When you turn the key, the car is supposed to start. If it doesn't, something is obviously wrong. I couldn't get angry with Seth, though.

"Car won't start," I said lamely.

"What? That doesn't make any sense. It was working fine all afternoon."

"I know," I muttered, popping the hood. I climbed back out of the car and went to take a look. The battery seemed to be hooked up strangely. I didn't have the right kind of tools to check, but I was pretty sure it had continued to drain while we were in the store. Without the engine running to power it, the battery would have died pretty fast, and we'd been inside for quite awhile. I scratched my head, confused. I'd used the Jeep only last week when I went shopping with Esme and Jasper, and nothing like this had happened then.

Seth climbed out of the car too and was peering over my shoulder. "I'm uh, not real useful with these things," he said apologetically. "That's always been more Jacob's thing. Any idea what's wrong?"

"Yeah, looks like the battery's been drained," I muttered. "Seems like it's been rigged to discharge, and frankly, I don't know how to undo it. Even if we got a jump start, I don't know if we'd make it back to Forks."

"Crap," Seth commented, echoing my thoughts. "And your phone isn't working. What do we do?"

"I guess we walk to a pay phone," I grunted.

"Uh. I don't think we do, man," Seth pointed up at the sky. This time of year, the sun stayed up until pretty late in the day. We had been unfortunate enough to choose one of the few days of the year when the clouds were apparently going to part, leaving Seattle bathed in sunlight for the next couple of hours. Why hadn't Alice warned me? I silently admonished myself for not having asked her to check. She couldn't be expected to anticipate everything, especially when no one bothered to ask her.

I certainly couldn't go back into the store and ask to use the phone. That clerk had made it more than clear that he wasn't going to bend the rules. From the look of the sky, I had about ten minutes to find shelter before I'd start to sparkle and shine for anyone who happened by. Unfortunately, Seth had picked out a store that was in a part of town populated almost entirely by office buildings. I hadn't seen another retail establishment around for a couple of miles, and if I suddenly took off at my full speed, someone was sure to notice.

Seth joined me in scanning our surroundings. "Over there," he said, pointing to a building with a _condemned _sign tacked to the front door. I sighed. It would have to do.

Seth graciously accompanied me to the abandoned building. I hoped no one would notice us entering, but as long as we looked like we were supposed to be there, no one was likely to say anything. We slipped in the back entrance where we were less likely to be seen. I took a look at our surroundings once we were inside. The building had obviously been condemned for a reason. Chunks were falling out of the walls and off of the ceiling. There were traces of mold evident in the corner. I could smell the telltale signs of infestation. I was pretty sure there were both termites _and_ rats in here. Still, it kept me out of the sunlight.

"So," Seth said, looking around for a place to sit and finding none. "Um. It's not so bad..."

I sighed, exasperated. "Seth, just find a big open room you can phase in, will you?"

He looked at me for a moment, puzzled. "Oh! Good idea!" he said finally, realizing that this was the best way for us to contact someone back home. He rushed down the hallway and a few moments later, I could hear the sounds of him removing his clothes and phasing. From the look of the floors in this place, I really hoped he'd managed to hang onto his clothes in his mouth or something rather than letting them touch the ground.

An excruciatingly long time went by where I had nothing to do except stare at the patterns of mold and decay in the room. This looked like it had been an office building once, same as most of the other buildings in the area. Since we'd come in the back way, I was pretty sure this probably used to be a mail room or something. I couldn't help pondering what had led the building's managers to let it decay like this. Maybe it had been hit by some kind of natural disaster at some point in time and the repairs had just gotten to be too much to manage. Who knew? I chuckled to myself at what Esme would do with a place like this if she got her hands on it. Renovating was one of her favorite pastimes.

Eventually, I heard the sounds of Seth returning to human form and pulling his clothes back on. He returned to where I'd been standing still as a stone. "Sorry," he said. "Leah was the only one in wolf form, and I had to argue with her for a long time. She wanted me to just run home, and I told her I wasn't going to leave you here. She said she'd get Jacob to _order_ me back home, and I said that was fine, because I knew he'd wait to hear me out first if she got him to phase. Anyway, eventually she passed on the message. Jake's going to go let your family know where we are so they can send somebody to pick us up. He's going to try to get them to bring him along so he can take a look at your Jeep and see if he can fix it."

"And in the meantime, we wait," I added, resigned to spending the next couple of hours in this hellhole. "Well, there's no real reason you have to wait here," I told Seth. "After all, _you_ can leave the building without drawing attention."

"Nah, I'm good," Seth said at precisely the same time that his stomach grumbled.

I rolled my eyes. "Really Seth, go find something to eat." I dug my wallet back out. I didn't have nearly enough cash on me to cover the purchase at the game store, but I did always carry a few hundred bucks with me. "Maybe pick me up a shirt with some long sleeves, some gloves, a hat, and one of those medical masks. I'll get weird looks, but if people think I'm a cancer patient or something, no one's going to hassle me."

"Oh, good idea!" Seth brightened. "It might take me awhile though. I really don't know my way around Seattle.

"There's a GPS in the Jeep. It _should_ be fully charged, but the way this day is going..."

Seth left, and I didn't expect him to be back for awhile. I was surprised when he returned about ten minutes later. "Hey Emmett?" His tone was much more cautious than I knew Seth to normally be. Now what?

"Yeah? Couldn't find the GPS?" I asked.

"No, no, I got it," Seth told me sheepishly. "It's just, well, there was a tow truck pulling into the parking lot as I was leaving. I'm pretty sure that game store guy must've called to have your car towed away."

I snorted. "Of course he did. Because why would anything go right today?"

"Sorry, man. If you want me to hang around..." Seth began, but I cut him off.

"No, Seth, you need to eat. Go. I'll be fine." Seth gave me one last apologetic look and left me standing alone in the middle of a dilapidated building with nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs and wonder exactly what was with my terrible luck today.


	13. Waiting

**The fact that I used the Vanquish in this chapter and the title of this story is Vanquished isn't lost on me. **

**Special thanks to tbird1965 for helping brainstorm titles of books for Emmett and Seth's discussion in this chapter. If you're a fan of well-written lemons with or without plot (especially without!), go check out her stories. Sorry, but you'll never find any in my stories. I suck at writing them. :)**

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Thirteen - Waiting

I had no idea how much time I had on my hands. I had no idea when the sun would have descended enough for me to chance stepping back outside. I had no idea why I had asked Seth to contact home to have someone sent for us, given that the sun was out and anyone in my family would be risking exposure just as much as I was. Come to think of it, I had no idea why we needed anyone to be sent for us anyway. If it had been overcast, we could have just walked a little ways outside of the city limits where no one would notice Seth suddenly turning into a giant wolf or the two of us suddenly turning into a blur as we took off running. The sun coming out _did _complicate matters, but we could have just waited awhile for it to set before running home.

It was all because I was so taken aback by my credit card, cell phone, and car not working. I'd never had problems like this before, and now suddenly it was all happening at once. I was a smarter guy than a lot of people gave me credit for, but there were still limits to how many steps ahead my brain could work before it gave up and said "You're on your own, buddy." On top of everything else, I still _really_ wanted that game. I had still been focusing so hard on how I was going to get my hands on it, I hadn't been thinking clearly about getting home.

I punched a wall in annoyance with myself, knocking a fist-sized hole into it. I winced, hoping to myself that it hadn't been a load-bearing wall. The last thing I needed right now was to have my temporary shelter come crumbling down around me. Somehow, I was pretty sure a building suddenly collapsing in the middle of the business district of Seattle with a glittery man inside might draw someone's attention. I wondered with a snort what size font they would use for the headline _Vampires are Real! _in newspapers around the world. That would be fitting, wouldn't it? For the secret to be discovered less than two weeks after Aro became a human. At least he'd feel vindicated, given proof that he'd truly been indispensable.

In an effort to stop beating myself up for failing to properly consider all of my options before taking action, I amused myself by thinking up increasingly bizarre stories that the newspapers would run in light of the news.

_What to Do if You Are Attacked by a Vampire: Kill It With Fire!_ Actually, there wasn't a lot else to add to that article beyond the headline.

_How to Tell if Your Online Date is Really a Vampire_. Step one: Is your date attractive? If no, stop. Your date is not a vampire. Step two: Find an excuse to touch your date's hand. Is it ice cold? If no, stop. Your date is not a vampire. Step three: Give yourself a paper cut. Are you still alive? If yes, your date is probably not a vampire, but there is still some margin for error.

_Was Michael Jackson a Vampire? _Actually, I didn't really known the answer to this one. His skin did drastically change colors, and he did start exhibiting some pretty strange behavior and became increasingly reclusive. He _had_ gotten less and less attractive as time went on, which seemed to point the dial toward him being just an odd human, but he'd also been in that fire back in the 80s, which would have definitely been enough to mar the appearance of one of us. So really, I was just as clueless as the human media would be on this one.

I wondered how many different papers would go out of their way to find one of us to interview and call the article _Interview With the Vampire_, thinking they were the only ones clever enough to come up with the idea.

Of course, the womens' magazines would have a field day too. _Top 10 Things Your Vampire is Thinking, but is Afraid to Tell You_. Number One: I really, really, really want to drink your blood. Badly.

I was halfway through a lengthy article I had dubbed _What to Expect When You're Expecting (To Be Turned Into a Vampire) _when Seth finally made his way back. He handed me a bag containing the items I'd requested. "Feeling better?" I asked, finally a little less full of tension after entertaining myself for the past hour or so.

"Yeah, sorry about that," he replied sheepishly. "I really didn't want to take off and leave you here, but you know how much we eat."

"Don't worry about it. If you can put up with the fact that I drink bears, I can definitely get over the fact that you need to eat a dozen times a day." I reached into the bag and decided to wait until I was actually about to leave the building before pulling on the gloves, hat, and mask. I quickly pulled out the long-sleeved shirt and pulled it on over my head, laughing to myself about what Alice would say to me when I got home dressed in such dreadful, dreadful off-the-rack clothes.

I froze. Alice. Of course I'd already established that she couldn't be expected to anticipate every single little thing, like what the weather would be like in Seattle that day, but why hadn't she realized that I was going to wind up in this bizarre compromising position?

"Emmett? You all right?" Seth asked worriedly. Of course. Seth was the answer. Alice couldn't see any of the wolves. The fact that I was with Seth had prevented her from seeing anything that would happen to me. I groaned in annoyance.

"I'm fine," I assured him. "Just thinking about how we got into this mess." I grumbled to myself. I would just have to wait until I got home before I could find out what was wrong with my credit card and cell phone. Tomorrow morning, I would have to make some phone calls to find out exactly where my Jeep was impounded and what I needed to do to get it out. This was exactly what I needed right now, because I didn't already have enough pressure in my life right now to make your average person crack.

"So, um. You wanna play rock-paper-scissors?" Seth asked awkwardly, and the absurdity of it was just enough to make me burst out laughing.

"If you wanna know what I've been doing to pass the time, I've been coming up with entertaining stories of how the media would handle the news that vampires are real if it came out, you know, since Aro isn't in charge of secrecy anymore," I informed him.

"Oh!" Seth's demeanor brightened up once again. "You mean like, _Nation's First Human-Only School Opens_?"

"That's a good one. How about _Scientists Predict Human Population to Dwindle, Vampire Population Growth Surge_?"

"Or _Vampires and You: A Guide to Best Practices for the Practical Human_."

"_I'm Okay, You're a Vampire,_" I added.

"_How to Win Friends and Influence Vampires,_" Seth quipped.

I rolled my eyes. "Humans can't influence vampires, try as they might. Well, Bella was able to influence Edward, but she had some unfair advantages at work."

Seth scrunched up his face in thought before finally blurting out "_Humans Are From Mars, Vampires Are From Venus_."

"A book dedicated to explaining the differences in psychology between humans and vampires," I said approvingly. "How about _Seven Habits of Highly Successful Vampires_?"

"What would the habits be? Drink lots of blood, try to avoid touching anyone with your ice-cold skin, and avoid werewolves?"

I snorted. "If they find out about _you_ guys, they'll be pounding down your doors trying to get you to sweat into a bottle for them so they can sell bottled vampire repellant."

"Gross!" Seth laughed. "Although I bet I'd be more popular with the ladies. 'Please come stand outside my door and keep the vampires away. I'll do anything! _Anything_!'"

"You just might get tired of being so popular with the ladies. They'd probably put you in some kind of government-controlled breeding program to try to increase the werewolf population over the next 40 years or something."

Seth's eyes glossed over, and he momentarily looked deep in thought. Finally, he spoke again. "And the problem with that would be...?"

"You're worse than I am!" I exclaimed.

"Maybe they'd start having vampire game shows," Seth remarked, getting back to the original topic. "Extreme sports or something. Or putting a vampire on an island with a bunch of humans and filming what happens. It would be the new hit reality show!"

"Paid blood banks might come back in vogue," I added. "Even blood that couldn't be used for human donations could be bottled and sold. We can't catch diseases, so we wouldn't really care if the person had hepatitis or something."

"Yeah, but people would have to be really careful they weren't going into a crooked blood bank run by a vampire. Dr. Acula will see you now!"

I rolled my eyes. "Like Carlisle's never heard that one before."

Suddenly, we both heard footsteps outside and instantly quieted down. If someone was wandering by, they might come in to investigate if they heard us carrying on like this. The back door creaked open slowly, causing Seth and I to hold our breath and tense up.

"Seth?" Jacob called out quietly. "Emmett?"

Seth and I exhaled in unison. "In here," Seth answered. "Jesus, Jacob, you scared us half to death."

"Oh is _that_ how come Emmett's half dead?" Jacob laughed at his own joke as he emerged fully into the room with Nessie right behind him.

"So what am I, one-quarter dead?" Nessie muttered. Jacob instantly stopped laughing.

Before Jacob could start blubbering all over himself in an effort to apologize, I cut in. "Hey Nessie. What are you doing here?"

She shrugged. "Carlisle wanted someone to go along with Jacob to make sure he didn't fall asleep at the wheel or anything, since he was up late running patrols last night. I was the logical choice, especially since I'm the only one who can go out in the sun without looking like a disco ball. Plus, Alice was irritated that she hadn't seen the problems, even though she knew perfectly well that Seth was with you. I figured it might help if I got away from her for awhile so she could see better."

I pulled on my gloves, hat, and mask while Nessie spoke, and Jacob burst out laughing at the sight of me. "Shut up, as long as people don't think I'm a vampire, I don't care if they think I'm sick," I grunted.

"Or unbalanced," Jacob snorted.

"Or unbalanced," I agreed. What did I care if passerby thought I was off my rocker?

"Where's your Jeep anyway? Seth made it sound like it was nearby." Jacob asked when he regained control of himself after laughing at my appearance.

"It _was_. Stupid jerk that runs the store had it towed off," I replied. "Speaking of the store, Nessie, do you mind running in and buying up the Neo Geo and all the games in there?"

"I'm ten steps ahead of you," Nessie told me. "It's already out in the car. Seth wasn't short on details at all, lucky for you."

I had crossed the room and thrown my arms around Nessie before she was finished talking. Thank goodness, it hadn't all been for nothing after all. I'd gotten my game! "Have I mentioned that you're my favorite niece?"

"I'm also your least favorite niece," she told me coolly.

"Details, details," I grinned, and we headed outside to pile into the Aston Martin parked outside.

"Edward let me drive it a few years back," Jacob explained cheerfully. "I requested it today."

Once we were safely inside the car with its tinted windows, Seth and I poured over the collection of games that were wedged in between us in the backseat. "How did the jerk at the game store treat you anyway?" I asked.

"He was as sweet as could be," Nessie smirked. "He said something about how hard he was going to laugh at the big meathead if he came back later with a card that actually worked."

"Is that the reason you dragged us out here instead of just running home after the sun went down?" Jacob narrowed his eyes at me in the rearview mirror. "Because if we seriously came all this way just to buy you some stupid game..."

"No, I was sort of hoping to be able to bring the Jeep home. That was before it got towed. Anyway, to be honest, I wasn't exactly thinking clearly after everything that happened. This whole week hasn't exactly been the easiest of my life. By the way, Nessie, is your cell phone working out here?" I asked.

Nessie pulled out her phone and dialed. "Hey Carlisle," she said. "No, everything's fine, we've got them with us. I was just testing to make sure my phone was working because Emmett asked. No, we're on our way back now. The Jeep got towed. Oh really? So soon? Okay, I'll let him know. See you soon." She hung up the phone. "Seems to work fine. Carlisle said Rosalie and Bella are already finished with the truck and will be home in a few hours. Guess you didn't do a very good job of disabling it."

I pulled my own phone back out again while I answered her accusation. "In my defense, I didn't have to do a good enough job to keep Rose from fixing it. Just good enough that Charlie couldn't fix it. Jacob was off being a wolf at the time, and nobody in town takes their cars to Dowling if they can avoid it." I frowned. "That's so weird, it still isn't getting a signal. Hey, can I borrow your phone for a little while so I can find out why my card didn't work?" Nessie passed her phone back to me. As I took it from her, I saw Jacob automatically reach over to take her hand when she returned to her normal sitting position. I could have sworn I noticed her flinch momentarily from his touch. My own paranoia must have really been getting to me.

I dialed the number on the back of the credit card, and this time I was able to get through successfully. After waiting on hold for an excruciatingly long time, I eventually spoke to a man with a thick accent who informed me that I had been removed from the account as an authorized user. He refused to tell me who had done this or when, adding that my card could only be reactivated if the primary account holder called to request it. I briefly considered calling back and claiming to be Carlisle in order to have myself added back on, but I thought it would be better to discuss the matter with him first. Maybe there had been a perfectly good reason I'd been temporarily removed from the account, like Bella was ordering new papers for me under a new name. She had taken over dealing directly with the family attorney, with Jasper only stepping in when we needed something in a rush. It might have been a mistake for me to even call in the first place. I decided against calling the wireless phone company right away in case everyone thought I was deceased or something. I handed the phone back to Nessie.

During the remainder of the ride home, I listened passively as Jacob and Seth discussed pack business. Nessie kept glancing at me in the backseat through the car's rearview mirror, and I got the distinct impression that something was on her mind.

"Nessie, is everything all right?" I finally asked. Color flushed her cheeks immediately at the question.

"Everything's fine, just nervous about starting school in a few days," she mumbled.

"Oh, Forks High School isn't so bad," I reassured her. From the way she was chewing on her lip, I was sure that wasn't what had her so concerned, but whatever it was, she didn't seem ready to talk about it, so I kept chattering on about what to expect at school. Eventually, she relaxed a little and engaged in a lively conversation with me about the various teachers and what they would expect from her. Still, I got the impression that something more was bothering her. Jacob seemed completely oblivious to this fact, continuing to prattle on with Seth while Nessie and I kept up our own conversation. It was probably just my imagination, I concluded. I was so stressed out about everything going on, I probably just wanted to think everyone else was worked up too. After all, if anyone would notice that something was upsetting Nessie, it would be Jacob.

We beat Rose and Bella home by a few hours. This was due partly to the fact that the two of them had started off in Oregon while we had only been in Seattle, but I was also fairly certain that it was due in part to the fact that they would be driving Bella's ancient clunker of a vehicle back with them as well. Rose wouldn't be able to do any serious tweaking to its speed capabilities until she had it back here in our garage, so they were probably puttering along at something resembling the speed limit.

I carried the box containing the Neo Geo and all the games, including the sought-after Metal Slug, into the door like a kid on Christmas. "Check it out guys," I announced. "One of the rarest games out there, and now it belongs to us!" Alice seemed pretty unimpressed, and I heard a huff of mild annoyance escape from her lips, probably because my company had just interrupted her ability to see. Jasper came to look with interest, and Aro was practically bouncing up and down on the couch, straining to see what shiny new items I'd brought in. To try to appease him, I brought the box over to the couch so he could see too.

Jasper set off right away getting the system hooked up to the television so we could play. Seth looked on with excitement, and Jacob's interest was completely consumed with following Nessie into the kitchen while she helped Esme pick out and prepare Aro's evening meal. Edward watched on from behind the couch, where he'd been spending a fair amount of his time in order to keep tabs on Aro's mental state. In a matter of minutes, the game was up and running, and the rancid stench of human food was filling my nostrils. Seth and I settled into the couch to start playing while Aro watched on, fascinated by the colors and sound effects. I still couldn't believe I really owned this little slice of gaming history.

"Watch out!" Aro shouted every time one of us got near an enemy. He ducked and cowered any time an attack was fired. It was actually pretty comical to watch. I hated to admit it, but I was starting to get used to Aro's presence just a little. He really wasn't so bad when you got down to it. He just had a period of adjustment ahead of him, same as when a human first became a vampire.

Engrossed in the game as I was, it took me a little while to notice that Jasper, for some reason, was in the kitchen with Esme, Nessie, and Jacob. That was a little strange. Normally, Jasper tried to avoid being in the kitchen while anyone was cooking. Esme, Bella, and Edward seemed to be the only full vampire members of the household who could tolerate the smell of human food at close range for long enough to actually prepare anything.

"Aro, would you like to try taking a turn?" I asked, passing the controller over. Aro's eyes widened as he stared back at me, apparently trying to determine whether this was just a ruse to yell at him or something. Once again, I was irritated with myself for scaring him so much on his first morning here. "Go ahead, give it a try." His look of gratitude was such that I honestly thought he might start crying tears of joy. Poor guy. I resolved to try to be nicer to Aro. No matter how horrible he'd been to us in the past, he hadn't asked for any of this, and he certainly wasn't a threat to us anymore.

I eased myself off the couch and sauntered nonchalantly into the kitchen. Jasper was apparently in there to speak with Jacob. The two of them were talking in hushed tones that I had to strain to hear properly, which set off my internal alarm bells. Had Alice seen some kind of danger while I was in Seattle? I glanced over at her, but she was humming cheerfully to herself while she applied elaborate false fingernails to her hands with industrial-strength adhesive. It would still only hold for a day or two before she had to repeat the entire process, but I had to give her credit for the effort she put into trying to look her best every day. If Alice was in such a good mood, she probably hadn't seen anything that would constitute cause for alarm. My curiosity piqued, I continued moving toward the kitchen.

"You know I can't match you with money, bloodsucker," Jacob sneered, but his tone was joking and he used the term "bloodsucker" as almost a term of endearment.

"Then we'll find another way to make it interesting," Jasper hissed back in similar jovial terms. "How about this: If I win, you have to wear a dog collar for a month."

Jacob thought this over for a moment before whispering back. "What do I get if I win?"

"What do you want?" Jasper winked.

Jacob threw his head back and laughed. "_You_ have to eat dinner with me and Nessie every day for a month."

Jasper recoiled slightly in horror, and I understood why. Not only would he need to clean his plate of a mountain of disgusting human food, but he'd have to regurgitate it as well, tasting it again the second time around. He narrowed his eyes at Jacob for a moment, who was smirking back at him. Finally, he relented. "All right, it isn't as if you'll win anyway. You're on, pooch."

I had no idea what this bet was about, but I wanted in on this action. I'd make Jacob put a leash on that collar and have Nessie take him for a walk every night after they ate. "What's the bet about, guys?" I asked casually, strolling into the kitchen.

Both of them stared at me in shock. Apparently, neither had noticed me approaching. "Uhh, nothing," Jasper said quickly at the same time that Jacob said "Bet? What bet?"

I looked suspiciously from one of them to the other, then finally sought out Esme. She was doing her best to ignore both of them, but she couldn't keep the slight disapproving frown off her lips. Nessie was sitting sloppily on the kitchen counter, occasionally picking up a wooden spoon to stir a pan of what looked like pasta. She rolled her eyes at the entire scenario. "Don't pay attention to them, Emmett. They're just being immature as always."

"What's the bet about?" I repeated, this time with a little more urgency. If they didn't want me to know what the bet was about, that meant it was probably about me. Were they taking bets on when I would scare Aro again or something? Probably not—they would tell me if that was the case.

"Uhh..." Jasper cleared his throat and suddenly seemed interested in helping Nessie stir the pasta. She swatted him away.

"Don't look at me to get you out of this one," she admonished him.

Jacob sighed, realizing he was beaten. "Jasper's starting a pool about whether or not Rosalie is going to get what she wants from you," he confessed.

I comprehended the words, of course, but I couldn't comprehend how Jasper could possibly be so callous. I gaped openly, not trying to conceal one ounce of my shock and anger. "You two are taking bets on whether or not Rosalie will manage to get me to reject her?" I asked, bewildered.

"To be fair, I'm betting against," Jasper said quickly. "I've felt the strength of your love for her. There's no way she'll succeed. I'm betting on a sure thing."

I turned my fury to Jacob. "So you're betting that she _will_ antagonize me into rejecting her?"

Jacob shrugged, clearly unafraid. "Blondie always gets what she wants. She's not going to give up until she does. It's nothing personal."

"Nothing _personal_?" I shouted. "You're placing bets on my love life and the entirety of my future existence, and it's nothing _personal_?"

"I told you he'd react like this," Nessie remarked, going back to stirring the pasta.

"Settle down boys," Esme warned, a slight edge to her tone. "There are humans present. Or one, at least."

I quickly reined myself in. "For your _information_," I hissed, my voice much quieter now, "Rosalie and I made up this morning." Granted, she'd said she couldn't promise she'd stop trying, but that was hardly common knowledge. _It better stay that way,_ I warned Edward. I didn't look up to see his nod of agreement, but I was sure he was giving me one.

"Sure, sure," Jacob replied amicably. "Then you won't mind if Jasper and I place a friendly wager. Since you're so confident he'll win and I'll have to wear a dog collar and all."

I suppressed the urge to growl and instead rejoined Seth, Aro, and Edward in the living room. Let them take bets if they wanted. What did I care? I knew my own heart. I knew I would never be able to reject Rosalie, whether she wanted it or not. I knew we would be together forever, and that nothing would ever change between the two of us.


	14. Answers

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Fourteen - Answers

I watched in irritated silence as Aro and Seth played, trying to distract myself from Jasper and Jacob and their utter heartlessness. Edward clapped a sympathetic hand on my shoulder from behind. Of course, he knew what it was like to have people taking bets on your love life and the actions of the one you loved. I felt a small twinge of guilt for the thoughtless bets Jasper and I had placed on him and Bella during the earliest days of their relationship. Edward squeezed my shoulder lightly with his hand, and I knew that all was forgiven.

"Say Em," Seth spoke up, not peeling his eyes from the television. "Shouldn't you be talking to Carlisle about your credit card and your phone?"

My earlier troubles had actually managed to entirely slip my mind, between the excitement of the game and my annoyance at how crass my brother and my future sort-of-nephew were being. "Yeah, I should. Thanks for the reminder." I did my best to stay upbeat. As much as I hated to admit it, I would probably benefit from Jasper's assistance right now. I wasn't about to ask him for it though. Jerk.

As I thought this, Edward moved toward the kitchen, probably to ask Jasper to help me so that I wouldn't need to. Thoughtful of him. _Don't make it sound like I want to ask_, I pleaded with him. _Make it sound like it's your idea_. I didn't wait for an acknowledgment from Edward; I knew he would comply with such a simple request. Instead, I made my way to Carlisle's study. He'd been spending a lot of time pouring over his enviable collection of literature containing all of the legends of our kind, trying to determine whether there was any previous record or even hints of a vampire-to-human transformation. We had a good working theory about what had caused Aro to transform, but we had no means of verifying it. _Unless Rosalie manages to prove it right_, I thought bitterly. As I reached the door to Carlisle's study, a feeling of peace and serenity swept through me, and I mentally thanked Edward for speaking to Jasper on my behalf.

"Hey Carlisle," I greeted my father. He set aside his book and rose from his desk

"Emmett," he replied warmly. No matter what I interrupted him in the middle of doing, Carlisle never made me feel like the slightest bit of a bother or annoyance, a fact for which I had never been nearly grateful enough. "I'm pleased that you all made it home without further incident. I was sorry to hear about your troubles in Seattle today. Were you able to get to the bottom of them?"

Well, it sure didn't _seem_ like Carlisle had deliberately removed my name from the family credit card. "Actually, that's what I came to talk to you about," I informed him. "I called the credit card company, and they told me I was no longer listed as an authorized user. I thought maybe there was some reason, like I was supposed to change identities and everyone forgot to mention it to me with all the craziness that's been going on lately?" I was still a little hopeful that the explanation would be so simple.

I should have known better. Carlisle's mouth turned down in a slight frown. "I'm afraid there must have been some mistake. I'll straighten it out right away. What about your cell phone?" I fished it out of my pocket. It still wasn't getting any kind of signal.

"Seems to only be useful for calling 9-1-1 at the moment," I grumbled. "I didn't call them yet though, because I thought there might be a reasonable explanation for everything and I was afraid of making things worse."

Carlisle's face softened at that, beaming with pride at me for my swift thinking. "I appreciate your vote of confidence in me. I'll make the phone calls right now." He returned to his seat at the desk and picked up the house phone off of its receiver. He had called the credit card and cell phone companies before, so naturally, he knew the numbers from memory. After inputting the credit card number and some additional details in the automated system, he waited patiently on hold. I eased myself into a large overstuffed chair in the corner of his study to wait. It was definitely a psychological thing rather than a physical need to sit, but I felt more comfortable seated, especially if others in the room were sitting.

After a few moments, someone answered the phone. Although I would have been able to hear just fine, Carlisle put the phone on speaker to make it easier for me. "Hello, my name is Carlisle Cullen. I'm calling to clear up some confusion with regard to the removal of my son Emmett from our family card. I would like to have his card reactivated, please." We were currently using our "real" names, but we'd have to change them again the next time we moved, and we wouldn't be able to use them again for quite awhile. Every now and again, we enjoyed having the chance not to use assumed identities.

Carlisle gave them the social security number he was currently using and answered a few security questions before the customer service representative asked for my information, which Carlisle rattled off just as rapidly as he'd given his own. "All right, Mr—oh, I'm sorry, I just noticed in the records—Dr. Cullen, I've made that change to your account. Emmett's card should be available for use again within the hour. Is there anything else I can do to assist you today?"

"Yes, I wondered if you could tell me how his name was removed from the account?" Carlisle kept his voice even and polite. Unlike Jasper, he believed that you could catch more flies with honey than you could with vinegar.

"Let me pull up the account notes, it will be just a moment," replied the voice on the other end of the line in practiced tones, as if she had uttered this phrase dozens of times before. She probably had. "All right, thank you for your patience, Dr. Cullen. Yes, it appears that the change was requested this morning by your wife, Esme." Carlisle glanced at me, furrowing his brow in confusion. There must have been some mistake. Esme would never have done something like that, particularly without discussing it with Carlisle.

"Very well, I'll look into the matter on my end," Carlisle replied in clipped, businesslike tones. "While I've got you on the line, I would like to verify the names of everyone currently listed as an authorized user."

"Of course, Dr. Cullen. Let me just switch to the proper screen. In addition to yourself and your wife Esme Cullen, I see Alice Cullen, Edward Cullen, Emmett Cullen, Isabella Cullen, Jasper Hale, Rosalie Hale, and Vanessa Swan," she recited in alphabetical order. Poor Nessie. All of her legal documents listed her as Vanessa Swan. It was so much easier in the way of explanation though. If she should ever leave her purse laying around where someone could go through her things, it would draw a lot of attention if some of her documents said Renesmee Cullen and some of them said Vanessa Swan.

"That is correct," Carlisle confirmed. "Thank you for your help today. I believe that takes care of everything." He ended the call and immediately repeated the process with the wireless company. Once again, he was informed that Esme had me removed from the account and had my phone deactivated. Once more, it took only a few moments to have my name added back to the list, with the promise that my phone would be reactivated shortly. The representative read the list of phones on the account back to Carlisle, and it was identical to the list of authorized users on the credit card. Carlisle ended the call and turned his full attention back to me.

"This is very strange," he remarked. "I'm quite certain Esme wouldn't have requested those changes, but perhaps we'd better go directly to her to see if she had some reasoning behind it. It's especially odd that you alone were affected by the changes."

I followed Carlisle into the kitchen wordlessly. Jasper's continued influence over my mood prevented me from spending too much effort trying to figure out what was going on, and in any event, the problem was resolved now, so did it really matter that much? Everything was fine. I even managed to get my game. The only thing left to deal with was the Jeep, and it would be easy enough to take care of in the morning, now that my card was working again.

"Esme," Carlisle called softly for my mother. She had been chattering with Edward and Nessie while waiting for something to finish in the oven. Probably meatballs to go with the pasta Nessie had been working on. A cheerful expression on her face, she excused herself from the conversation to join Carlisle and me.

"Yes dear?" She answered my father pleasantly. There was not a hint of deception or malice in her face, and why would there be? Esme was capable of neither.

"I wondered if you could help us get to the bottom of the problems that Emmett experienced today in Seattle," Carlisle began.

"Of course, if there's anything at all that I can do to help." Esme's eagerness to assist was sincere, confirming what I'd already known. There was no possible way she could have been involved.

"I spoke with both the credit card and wireless companies, and I was told that you had requested the removal of Emmett's name from both accounts. I'm sure there must have been some mistake, but I wanted to check with you first to see whether there had been some extenuating circumstance."

Esme's face contorted in shock and horror, her lips forming a wide O. She shook her head vehemently, her soft waves cascading back and forth over her shoulders. "No, of course I didn't request anything like that."

"That's what I thought," I spoke up for the first time. "There has to be some other explanation." Edward's eyes met mine across the room, a dark expression on his face. He made his way to join our discussion.

"If the person who requested the change claimed to be Esme, it must have been a female," Edward remarked. "Any male making such a request would have claimed to be Carlisle."

That was true enough.

"The only people with enough information about our family's identities to pull off such a deception would be members of our family," Edward continued. Also true. We were exceptionally good at keeping our information away from public records of any kind. Even Carlisle's former employer would have difficulty locating his file if a former patient requested information.

I didn't like where this was going.

"I can tell you with absolute certainty that Alice, Renesmee, and Esme were all in the house today when the alleged phone call took place, and that none of the three of them made such a call," Edward went on ominously.

"Which leaves Bella and Rosalie," I finished, misery apparent in my voice. Edward nodded. "Maybe Bella was trying to get back at me for killing her truck?" I was grasping at straws, I knew. Bella _might_ have been interested in getting back at me, but she wouldn't have chosen such a malicious method. She would have done something like hiding all my clothes or decorating my Jeep with ribbons and lace.

My Jeep... "Rose would have known how to disable my Jeep like that too," I voiced my thoughts aloud, and Edward nodded his head sadly. "But we made up this morning!" I proclaimed firmly. "Rose wouldn't have—she couldn't have..." It was useless. The only person I was arguing with was myself. Everyone else knew what I refused to acknowledge as the truth.

Rose had been in the garage this morning. She had given Seth an apologetic look as we'd left. She'd covered her tracks completely. Her thoughts had been shielded from Edward, and she'd known Seth would be with me, effectively hiding my future from Alice. The sun coming out had been a coincidence, something she couldn't have really planned for, but it did happen every now and again. I growled in frustration. "I still need to hear it from her," I insisted stubbornly.

"Of course, dear," Esme murmured comfortingly.

"I believe I will have a talk with her about what actions are and are not acceptable," Carlisle spoke up. "The things that happened to you this morning were nothing more than an inconvenience, but if the circumstances had been just slightly different, the outcome could have been disastrous for us all." I couldn't disagree there. If I hadn't happened upon that abandoned building, I would have been forced to stay with the Jeep for shelter, and when the towing company arrived, I would have had to step out into the sun and it would have been all over.

How could she have been so thoughtless? All right, so she wanted me to reject her. I understood that, even if it was never going to happen. To put her entire family at risk like that was unthinkable though. Caius wouldn't have hesitated for a moment to destroy us all if one of us failed to keep the secret. Without Aro around wanting to try to collect half of the family for his guard, no one would have been spared, and no pretense of a trial would have been held. Flashes of my entire family being ripped to shreds and burned flashed through my mind, and the edges of fury started to overtake me before Jasper calmed me down once more. I glared at him, not entirely soothed by his efforts.

"Worried that you might lose the bet now?" I snapped, responding to his expression of concern.

A pained look overtook his features. "Of course not," he answered slowly. "I'm worried about _you_."

"I'm sure," I shot back sarcastically. I needed to get out of here, to be alone for awhile and let off a little steam, maybe find a couple of grizzlies to wrestle or just go for a run. I was in danger of losing my temper and taking it out on all the wrong people. Before I had time to act on my plans though, I heard the unmistakable sound of Bella's old truck clamoring up the driveway. The girls were home.

Edward immediately worked to try to restrain me. He didn't want me charging the door and possibly injuring Bella, and I couldn't blame him for that. I allowed him to hold me back, putting up no struggle so long as it would assuage his fears. Instead, I slowly led him into the living room, with Esme, Carlisle, and Jasper following behind us. Nessie looked like she wanted to follow as well, but Jacob wouldn't hear of it. Less than a minute later, Rosalie and Bella came in the front door. Rosalie was wearing a smirk on her face, which faded instantly when she saw me standing in the living room, waiting to greet her.

"Hello Rose," I said through clenched teeth.

"Hi Emmett," she replied. She seemed a little nervous, but as usual, she was unflappable.

"Bella," Edward whispered, and the two of them shared a brief conversation with their eyes. Bella quickly moved to stand beside Edward, and he loosened his grip on my arms slightly.

"I had the most interesting day in Seattle," I told her, false calm dripping in my tone of voice.

"Did you? I didn't see your Jeep in the garage," she answered innocently. "Car trouble?"

"You could say that. Also credit card and cell phone trouble. Interesting how all those things happened at once, don't you think?" I stared her down accusingly.

She didn't flinch. "Is that so? Well, it seems you made it home all right."

"Yes," I confirmed. "So sorry to disappoint you. The strangest thing happened when Carlisle called to clear up the situation though. It seems that Esme called this morning to remove my name from both accounts. Isn't that odd? Especially since Esme didn't make those calls. I wonder if you might know who did?"

Anyone else would have looked away uncomfortably. Not Rosalie. She leveled her stare straight back at me, silently challenging me to become even more angry. I refused to give her what she wanted. "Goodness, I wonder who could possibly have been capable of posing as Esme?"

"Rosalie," Carlisle interjected sternly. "We all understand what you're trying to accomplish, but Emmett could have been discovered today. It is not acceptable to leave a member of this family stranded, no matter the reasoning. Your actions endangered us all."

Rosalie broke my gaze and looked genuinely upset. "Danger?" She drew in a quick breath. "What danger?" She looked to Carlisle, her eyes pleading for an explanation.

"The sun came out," I answered, keeping my reply short and to the point. Rosalie gasped in horror, and I could tell that her reaction was not an act. She was a good actress, but not that good. Her eyes flitted over each of us, and I sensed the anguish in her expression. She must have been imagining the fate she'd nearly brought down on all of us.

"I'm so sorry," she told me truthfully. "I had no idea. I should have checked the weather, or asked Alice to check. I thought it would be an annoyance, but I didn't think—"

"—No, you didn't think, Rose, and that's the problem," I interrupted. "You didn't stop to think about anyone but yourself, as usual. How could you put your entire family at risk like that? If you hate me, fine, but don't take it out on them."

_Now _Rosalie looked away. When she finally looked back up at me again, her hands were trembling as she took in the consequences that had been narrowly averted. "I don't hate you," she whispered. "I just want you to hate me."

Just like that, all of my anger disappeared, and it had nothing to do with Jasper this time. I gently placed my hands on her shoulders and pulled her to my chest. "I'm sorry, Rose, but I could never hate you." I held her like that for a long time while she sobbed without tears into my shoulder. "No matter what you do," I added softly.

"I know," she said at last. "It wasn't supposed to be this way," she lamented. "I wasn't supposed to be this, and I wasn't supposed to hurt the people I love." She looked up, addressing the group, which had by now been joined by Alice and Nessie. "Can you ever forgive me for what I tried to do?"

"Of course, dear," Esme answered on behalf of everyone. "Please don't do anything like that again though."

Rosalie nodded fiercely, her arms still clenched around my waist. "I won't."

"Does this mean I can stop shielding you?" Bella asked. I knew that extending her talent away from herself wasn't without effort for her.

Rosalie hesitated, causing my muscles to clench in knots. "I—I don't think I want Edward to hear me right now. I'm too ashamed," she said at last. Bella gave one sharp nod, indicating that she would continue to keep the shield up.

"Dinner is ready for those of us who eat food," Nessie said quietly, breaking up the tension. Edward, convinced that his services at restraining me were no longer needed, went with her into the kitchen to prepare the dishes for Seth, Jacob, Aro, and Nessie.

I remained with Rosalie awhile longer until she finally murmured "I'm okay. I'm so sorry Emmett."

"Let's try to get back to some normalcy around here, okay?" I asked her, and she nodded her confirmation. It was so rare for her to show weakness like this, I couldn't stay angry with her any longer. Unfortunately, that was probably the exact opposite of what she really wanted.

Jacob and Nessie set up in the dining room with four heaping plates of spaghetti and meatballs, and Aro and Seth got up from the couch to join them. Edward followed closely behind. "Nessie," he said quietly, using her nickname for a change, "I thought tomorrow morning I might take you to complete the driving test."

Nessie looked up from her plate excitedly. "Really Edward? I thought I was supposed to be a freshman and I wouldn't be able to drive for awhile longer."

Edward shook his head slightly, a small smile on his lips. "Your mother and I talked about it. If the school believes you're living with Charlie, you'd have to take the bus to and from his house unless you're able to drive yourself. We decided at the last moment that it would be best if you were old enough to drive."

Bella joined the conversation. "You'll be taking my old car. I'm keeping my truck," she added.

Nessie's expression was unreadable, and Edward chuckled slightly. "You're right, the Ferarri will stick out quite a bit. However, the cover story allows for your having inherited it from your parents in their unfortunate accident some years ago."

"I guess," she answered, turning her attention back to her meal. "Tomorrow morning sounds good, Edward. Thanks."

"At least someone's finally going to get some use out of that car," Jacob remarked. "Honestly, Bells, I don't understand why you hate it so much. Anyone who knows anything about cars would give anything for a great car like that." Edward smiled appreciatively.

"It's just a car," Bella muttered. "My truck has character." Jacob laughed with his mouth full, splattering spaghetti sauce all over Aro, who was still wearing his Snuggie at the dinner table.

"Oops, sorry about that," Jacob, embarrassed, went back to his plate. Aro pulled off the stained Snuggie and tossed it carelessly to the floor. I scooped it up and went to start the washing machine. Maybe this was finally the end of all the insanity. Maybe things could finally get back to normal around here.


	15. Metamorphosis

**I know, I know, so many updates in such a short time, it's crazytown! I've really been dying to advance the story a little though, and I had some time on my hands this weekend, so here we go.**

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Fifteen - Metamorphosis

Things were almost normal for the next several days. Nessie passed her driving test with flying colors and took over ownership of Bella's Ferarri. This meant we saw a little less of Jacob around the house than we had in the last few years, since Nessie could easily travel to La Push on her own. Edward and Bella seemed a little saddened by Nessie's frequent absence from the house, but they didn't seem to be affected quite as much as Rosalie was. She had been in a foul mood ever since Nessie finished growing, so the revelation that it was, after all, possible for vampires to become human again couldn't have possibly come at a more inconvenient time.

Fortunately, she had some serious tinkering to do on Bella's truck, so she spent most of her time in the garage, where she promised she was not doing any tampering to my Jeep or making any phone calls to inconvenience me further. Nevertheless, Bella was continuing to keep her shielded, much to Edward's annoyance. When she wasn't in the garage, she was teaching Aro how to use the computer. It was a good idea, I had to admit. Aro was getting extremely bored and restless, and he was coming up with crazier and crazier lists of things he'd like to buy. Teaching him how to use the computer had opened up a whole new world of entertainment for him.

The day before Nessie was scheduled to start school, tension in the household was running at an all-time high. She would be the only one of us in a couple of years to need to put serious effort into maintaining the human facade, and her own parents wouldn't even be able to be involved in anything that might happen. We'd had to involve Charlie in the process as her "legal guardian," which was also a first for us. No human had ever played a role in our masquerade before, but there was simply no reasonable alternative. Having Aro around was another complication we'd just have to deal with.

It was on this day that Jasper decided to ask me to go hunting with him. It hadn't quite been two weeks yet since we'd last hunted, but there was no harm in going a little early. He'd been trying extraordinarily hard to get back on my good side ever since I found out about his bet with Jacob, especially after I nearly lost my temper later that same day. I decided to placate him and go along. It wasn't like I was needed for anything around the house right now, and all the hand-wringing and rending of garments was starting to get to me anyway. I could only imagine how awful it must be for Jasper, who could actually _feel_ what everyone else was feeling.

We ran deep into the woods in relative silence, Jasper absorbing the relative calm of being away from the rest of the family. Of course, my own mood could hardly be described as pleasant, but it was still a welcome change from all the stress. I had pulled Alice aside to get some inside information on whether Rosalie's efforts would pan out or not, and she had expressed to me with frustration that both Rosalie and I were blurry in her visions. Absurdly, she was still worried that she might be losing her gift, despite the fact that Aro becoming a human had explained all of the difficulties she'd had before. I didn't like the fact that Rose and I were blurry. That could only mean that there was still a chance that Rose might get what she wanted from me.

"Emmett," Jasper said finally. "Whatever happened to your old philosophy that worrying about things won't change the outcome?"

"I know I'm a hypocrite," I answered, ashamed. "It's stupid, but I almost wish I was the one going back to school. It might be easier to put this out of my head for awhile if I had something else to think about for a few hours every day."

"Well, maybe you should take up a hobby, or take over working with Aro. Perhaps you could teach him to play chess, or maybe you could both find something you'd enjoy doing," Jasper suggested helpfully.

"That's not a half bad idea, actually. Aro needs more to do with himself anyway." I paused, noticing the scent of a bear nearby. Bears usually didn't wander this far out, but this one was definitely getting nowhere near Forks if I had anything to do with it. Jasper caught the scent too and smirked knowingly as we took off in the direction of the aroma.

We ran a short distance from town when I found it. It was a much feistier creature than the one I'd killed on the day of our shopping trip, and it put up a pretty decent struggle after I taunted it into a furious rage. Jasper laughed with me as my mood lifted. There was nothing I loved more than an irritated bear. Once I had drained it dry, Jasper found some elk nearby and the two of us polished off the entire herd.

"Feeling better, I see," Jasper commented as we started to run back home.

"You know it," I grinned.

"Listen, Emmett, I'm really sorry about the bet. It was stupid and immature, and I already told Jacob we should call it off."

I shook my head. "Don't worry about it, man. I know how it is. You and I made some bets about Edward and Bella in our time. Besides, I'd love to see that mutt wear a collar around for awhile."

Jasper exhaled with relief. "Good, because he told me there was no going back on the bet now that it was made."

In spite of the circumstances, I couldn't help laughing at Jacob's gall. "Kid's got nerve, I'll give him that."

"I'm glad you see the humor in it, because uhh, some others joined in the bet," Jasper confessed.

I should be irritated, but honestly, how could I be? Let them take bets. Did it change what was going to happen just because they were betting on it? "Oh really?" I asked with interest. "Who?"

"Seth is betting on your side. Bella's betting on Rosalie," Jasper answered. "The terms of the bet are basically the same. Since we have one wolf and one vampire on each side, looks like no matter what happens, somebody's going to be wearing a dog collar and somebody's going to be eating dinner."

I raised an eyebrow. "Bella's betting against me? I didn't think she was the betting type. Does Edward know?"

"He does," Jasper laughed. "I honestly think that's the whole reason she placed the bet. You know how much Edward hates our gambling habits and wishes we would stop betting on everything. I think it was her way of getting even with him about the truck. Betting against you was her way of getting even with you."

Well, that made sense, and it certainly sounded like a more Bella-like way to get even with the two of us. No harm done, and when she lost the bet, she'd have to choke down some dinner every day. I couldn't help being pleased about that.

We arrived back at home, and I decided to approach Aro about finding something for the two of us to do to pass the time. He was seated at the computer and looked to be randomly surfing eBay for new things to buy. We had received a couple of packages lately, but I hadn't given it a lot of thought. I guessed this must have been where he'd been getting things, and probably paying for overnight delivery. No matter; money wasn't exactly a major concern of ours.

"Hey Aro," I said quietly, trying not to startle him.

He turned to face me. Most of his fear of me had been overcome by now. "Good evening, Emmett," he greeted me. "Did you know that they make _plastic_ shoes? Isn't that delightful?"

"It is," I said noncommittally. "So I've been thinking, we both have loads of free time on our hands. I was wondering if you'd like to try and find a hobby that we could pursue together, maybe help pass the days a little more easy?"

"Why that would be spectacular," Aro agreed cheerfully. "Let me just finish up this purchase." I noticed he was buying a pair of rainbow-colored Crocs. I chuckled to myself as he started to complete the transaction, wondering if he had the foggiest idea what rainbow colors on men generally meant in this day and age.

"Hmm, that's strange," he muttered. "There seems to be some sort of block on the account." I peered over his shoulder and saw that he was using _my _eBay account to make his purchase.

"My account has been blocked? What?" I leaned over him and took over the keyboard and mouse without asking. There was a message on my account that it was being temporarily blocked from making new purchases due to complaints from sellers. I had a sinking feeling about this. I checked the recent feedback that "I" had left.

_Seller failed to address me as "sir" during the transaction_, read one note.

_Seller ended a sentence with a preposition in his communication to me_, read the next

_Package arrived full of small round white things, which I did not order_, read another.

_Package was left on right side of the door instead of the left, causing me to need to step completely outside of the house due to the direction the door opens_.

_Seller demonstrated a general lack of knowledge of Renaissance period artwork_.

"Aro," I said slowly. "Have you been leaving negative feedback for every single transaction under my account?"

"Of course," Aro answered indignantly. "Rosalie told me that I should leave feedback once a transaction is completed. I was simply being honest."

I rubbed my eyes, trying to calm myself. "How many purchases have you made and left feedback for?" I asked.

"I should think around twenty by now," Aro answered.

_Stay calm, Emmett_, I reminded myself. _He doesn't understand_. "All right, Aro. The things you're leaving feedback for, those aren't things that matter. The only reasons to leave negative feedback are because a package arrives late or damaged or isn't the advertised item."

"Well, the small round things certainly weren't the advertised item!" Aro exclaimed.

"Those were packing peanuts," I explained patiently. "Did you look under them? The thing you ordered should have been in the bottom of the box."

"Oh my," Aro replied. "No, I just saw a box full of white round things."

I cradled my head in my hands. "Also, the seller has no control over where the mailman leaves the package. And why does it matter if this guy didn't know about Renaissance artwork? You bought an iPod from him. Why did Renaissance artwork even come up?"

"Everyone should understand the basics about Renaissance artwork," Aro replied as if it were the most obvious thing he'd ever said.

"Perhaps," I said calmly, "but in this day and age, it's not exactly common knowledge anymore. Okay Aro, I'm going to try to straighten this out with eBay and the sellers, see if I can retract all of these negatives. Next time you want to order something using my account, come and get me before you leave feedback and we'll discuss whether it's appropriate or not, all right?" I really couldn't be mad at him. I was sure that Rosalie had known exactly what she was doing when she encouraged him to leave feedback for every purchase.

"Of course," Aro answered cheerfully. "It seems I still have much to learn about modern times."

Before I had an opportunity to try to work with Aro to think of a hobby we could try to pursue together, I heard Jacob's Rabbit pulling up the driveway. That was strange. Nessie had gone to visit him in La Push in the morning, and I didn't think she would have left her car behind, especially since she was starting school the next day.

"Hi everybody," Nessie called out brightly when she burst through the front door. Jacob was nowhere to be seen or smelled.

"Nessie, where's your car?" I asked. I didn't seem to be the only one with that question on their mind. Everyone turned to look in Nessie's direction, waiting for a response.

"Oh, that," she said dismissively. "It's Jacob's car now."

"_What_?" Bella shrieked, enraged. "I'll kill him! How did he get you to—"

"Relax, Bella," Nessie told her. "_I _convinced _him_ to trade me. You know he'd never accept any of our money willingly. I just thought his car had more character. I batted my eyelashes at him and told him I'd really, really like it if I had his car instead of this flashy, attention-grabbing Ferarri, and the next thing I knew, we were trading," she smirked.

Bella opened and shut her mouth several times in a row, vaguely resembling a fish. Edward, who had looked annoyed initially, was grinning openly. "Like mother, like daughter," he murmured in Bella's ear.

"Fine, whatever," Bella muttered. "Get it in the garage and get Rose to check it over. I don't want you driving it to school until she says it's safe."

"Yes ma'am," Nessie answered in an exaggerated tone. "Is she out there already?"

"Of course," I grunted. Nessie shot me a sympathetic look before heading back outside to take the Rabbit to Rosalie.

When I turned my attention back to Aro, I was shocked to see that he was slowly taking apart my computer. "Aro, what the hell are you doing?" I blurted out, a bit more harshly than I'd meant to.

"Did I do something wrong?" he stammered. "Rosalie told me that I should feel free to do what I wanted to learn how things worked."

"Aro," I began slowly. "What else have you taken apart?"

"That delightful video game you brought home a few days ago," Aro replied without a hint in his tone that he'd done anything out of the ordinary. I ran to check on my games. Sure enough, he'd pulled apart the Neo Geo. Fortunately, he hadn't gotten to Metal Slug, but replacing a Neo Geo without a working eBay account was going to be next to impossible.

Great. Just great. "Okay, Aro, I'm sorry that Rosalie gave you bad information. Please do not take anything else apart without talking to one of us first. One of us other than Rosalie. I'll be back in a few minutes," I told him. I spun around and headed out to the garage before waiting to see whether Aro agreed to what I'd asked him to do.

"Rose," I yelled out as soon as I got there. "What the hell? Why did you tell Aro to take apart my stuff and leave negative feedback for everything he bought on my eBay account?"

"I'll take a look at it as soon as I can, Nessie," Rosalie was calmly finishing her conversation. "Really though, I can't imagine what you'd want with such a dreadful car."

"I'd explain, but I'm pretty sure Emmett being here is my cue to leave," Nessie answered, sticking her tongue out at me and skipping clumsily back toward the house. Any other time, I would have found it endlessly amusing the way she nearly tripped over an imaginary obstacle on her way out, but I had other things on my mind at the moment.

Rosalie didn't even look up at me. She popped the hood on the Rabbit and began to examine the engine with a cautious eye for detail.

"Rose?" I repeated, trying to get her attention while she continued to ignore me. She wiped off some grime, tightened a couple of bolts, and crawled under the car.

"Rose, answer me!" I begged.

"There's nothing to say, Emmett," she replied from under the car. "You already know why I did it."

"Come on, Rose, this has to stop! You said you were sorry for hurting the people you love."

My pleas were met with silence. After several minutes of listening to Rosalie mutter to herself about the shape of the vehicle, poking at various wires and things, I finally got down to the ground and poked my head under the car from the side to get a closer look at her. She must have seen me out of her peripheral vision, but she didn't turn her head away from her work. I kept watching her in silence, determined to force her to speak next.

"Emmett," she said in a carefully measured tone of voice. "You're the one and only thing standing in between me and humanity. To be human is the one thing I want most, and you continue to refuse to even _try_ to give it to me."

"Rose, you know if I could—"

"—I wasn't finished," she snapped. "I've been spending a lot of time away from you lately, as I'm sure you've noticed, and I'm discovering that I feel happier when you're not around. There's no constant reminder of the fact that you won't give me the one thing that _truly_ matters. Emmett... I don't like hurting the people I love, but I'm not sure that it bothers me anymore to hurt you."

"Are you saying that you... don't... love me?" Those words didn't belong in that order. Not when I was speaking to Rosalie.

Silence.

More silence.

"I guess that answers my question," I mumbled. "I'll leave you to it then."

In a daze, I started back toward the house, though I had no specific idea why I went there. I could just as easily wander off to the woods or off the side of a cliff. The way I felt right now, if I'd thought wandering off a cliff would actually kill me, I might consider it.

Edward and Jasper greeted me at the door before I even entered. They could tell something was wrong, but I didn't have the words to speak or even think. I was in a daze, unable to think about anything or really even drag one foot in front of the other. Gradually, I became aware that there was a burning in my throat, more severe than I remembered it being under ordinary circumstances. It was as if someone had diluted fire itself into a liquid form and forced me to drink it.

"I need to hunt," I said simply.

"But we just went?" Jasper's words were a question rather than a statement.

"I need to hunt," I repeated, and I spun to leave. I heard footsteps behind me, but I didn't notice or care whose they were. I ran blindly, my footsteps carrying me I knew not where, and the other set of footsteps remained close behind.

"Emmett," called a voice I vaguely recognized as Edward's. "Your mind is difficult to read. What happened in the garage?"

What was he going on about? I was too thirsty to answer questions right now. I needed to hunt. I caught the scent of blood and followed it. Edward stayed with me as I methodically drained some random animal I came across, and I kept going. The burn wasn't even close to fading. If anything, it was even worse than before.

"Emmett, you're scaring me," Edward told me, continuing to chase behind me. I heard his cell phone ring, and he answered it but didn't slow in his pursuit. I didn't care. He could follow me if he wanted, but I wasn't going to talk until this awful burn was gone from my throat. I caught another scent and ran after it, deeper into the woods.

"Edward, what happened to Emmett?" a female voice shrieked.

"I don't know. Alice, what do you see?" Edward answered frantically.

"Nothing. He's gone, Edward. Gone."

"Gone as in...?"

"Just like Aro!" Alice replied.

There was a long silence, during which I grabbed up a couple of squirrels and leaped up to pull down an entire nest of sparrows out of a tree.

"Alice, did you check to see if he..."

"Oh my God, Edward, I see him. It _is_ just like Aro. He's..."

Edward growled. "Go talk to her. I'm going to keep an eye on Emmett. He shouldn't be alone. Let Bella and Nessie know I might not be home for awhile, please."

I had no idea what the two of them were talking about. The only thing I was really aware of was the searing pain in my throat, and the fact that nothing seemed to be making it go away. I kept wandering deeper and deeper into the forest, taking down anything and everything in my path. I burrowed into the earth to pull out a groundhog before continuing to a stream where I grabbed up fish and drained them dry as well. Nothing helped. Why wouldn't the burning stop?

"Jasper's on his way. You might need his help if you run across the wrong sort of scent. I'll take Bella with me to go talk to her. Keep him safe, Edward." Alice's voice came through the phone as I caught the scent of a deer and chased after it.

"I won't allow anything to happen to him," Edward acknowledged. "I'll try to steer him back toward the house so Jasper can catch up." With that, he hung up the phone and started running faster. I knew he would catch up to me. Edward was the fastest of us. I didn't care if he caught me though. All I cared about was ending this unbearable burning in my throat.

Edward locked his arms around me as I was polishing off the deer. "Let's go back this way," Edward said. "There might be more deer."

More deer? That would be good. I didn't care which way I was going, so long as there was something to drink that way. I went along with Edward, stopping twice when I saw a rabbit and a frog. A couple of minutes later, we ran into Jasper. I hoped neither of them had any plans on stealing any of my prey. I needed blood. More blood. Lots more blood. This burn just wouldn't stop.

"Alice told me," Jasper breathed. "Is he all right so far?"

"He doesn't seem to understand what's going on," Edward answered, the two of them trailing slightly behind me as I went after anything and everything I could smell. They weren't interfering in my hunting. That was good.

"That's probably for the best, to be honest," Jasper said darkly. "If he understood, he'd be much more upset."

More upset? My throat was on _fire_, how could I possibly be any _more_ upset?

I continued to wander the woods, killing each and every scrap of wildlife in my path. Whenever I tried to leave the area in the hopes of finding a more densely populated forest, Edward or Jasper would turn me and steer me back into the same woods again. I settled for methodically combing the woods inch by inch, sniffing out everything underground, above ground, or in the trees and drinking all of its blood.

"What exactly are we going to do about the complete annihilation of every living creature in the forest?" Jasper wondered aloud.

"Good point," Edward allowed. "Let's take him further out. You go ahead and make sure there are no humans. Call me once you're certain the area is secure and I'll bring him."

Jasper nodded and took off in another direction. After a few minutes, Edward's phone rang again. "Carlisle, everything is fine so far. Jasper's gone ahead to secure a broader hunting range. Emmett doesn't seem to be aware of anything other than his thirst right now."

"That's the best news that can be expected, I suppose," Carlisle answered grimly. "Alice and Bella had a chat with her. It seems our working theory was accurate. It was the exact trigger we suspected."

"How could she?" Edward growled into his phone.

"Laying blame isn't going to help Emmett, Edward," Carlisle replied calmly. "She can't help her feelings."

Who were they talking about? Before I had time to properly wonder about the answer to this, the burn flared up in my throat once more, and I strained to catch the scent of anything warm with a pulse.

"My other line is ringing, Carlisle. It must be Jasper. I have to get this so I can take Emmett further out before he decimates everything in the forest. We'll keep him safe," Edward promised.

"All right. Get him home as soon as it's over. I'll want to examine him immediately for any ill effects."

I found an owl soaring overhead and started to chase after it while Edward pressed the button to switch to the other caller.

"Nobody out here," Jasper's voice spoke through the phone. "I caught a scent, but I followed it to an abandoned campsite. Whoever it was, they've been gone for nearly a full day."

"You're positive there's no one else in the area?" Edward asked.

"Nobody at all," Jasper answered. "There's a lot of larger game out here though."

"I'll bring him as soon as I can," Edward answered, hanging up the phone. I was up in a tree by that point, having managed to snatch the owl out of the air and drain it. Edward caught up to me swiftly and was waiting when I jumped down.

"Emmett, Jasper found some larger animals further out. Let's go."

Larger animals were good. Larger animals had more blood. I followed behind Edward, stopping every time I ran across something that was still alive. Nothing was helping the burn at all.

For hours, we kept up this pattern. I would drain everything in the vicinity, then Jasper would go ahead to check out an area and Edward would lead me to it. I wasn't sure why they were so set on helping me find more things to kill, but I was grateful for their help. I only wished it would do something about the burning.

After a few hours, I started to wish they'd follow me from a little further away. Their bodies were cold. It was making me cold. The burning and the cold and all the running, it was making me exhausted.

"I need to rest," I told them, although I wasn't really sure why I was keeping them informed. I sat on the ground, shivering at the feel of the cold mud surrounding me. Edward and Jasper hovered over me, exchanging worried expressions.

"I need... to... rest..." I repeated, my breaths coming out shallow and rapidly. I leaned my head against a tree and felt a blackness start to consume me. Maybe the blackness would stop the burning in my throat. I let it take over.


	16. Outcast

**Short chapter this time, but a necessary one. Story is marching along at last.**

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Sixteen - Outcast

The first thing I noticed was that the burn in my throat was gone. Not just diminished, as it had been for the past several decades, but gone. Oh no, what had I done? Had I killed a human? That was the only thing that would make the burn disappear entirely. How was I going to explain this to Carlisle? I knew he would forgive me, but I couldn't bear the thought of disappointing him. Making my family move again because of my momentary loss of control... Bella would be devastated to have to leave Forks. I had let everyone down.

I kept my eyes shut, not ready to face everyone yet. I knew I was on the couch in my house, but everything smelled a little different. Off. Wrong. Carlisle and Edward were talking in the background, and I listened in to their discussion.

"He seems quite healthy," Carlisle was saying. "All of his vitals are strong. I'd like to talk to him once he wakes up to make sure he isn't experiencing any symptoms."

"Carlisle, I believe he is awake," Edward said.

Vitals. Awake. Had something happened to Aro while I was gone? Or perhaps one of the wolves? I inhaled deeply, but I caught no fragrance of wet mangy dog. That was strange. There was always a noticeable aroma of wolf around here. Their scent lingered for weeks, and Seth had been in the house only the day before. On this very couch, no less.

"Let's give him some time to come around then," Carlisle replied to Edward. "This has been a lot to take in. I don't want to throw his system into shock by forcing him to do anything too soon."

I hoped I hadn't attacked Aro. He was terrified of me enough already.

"I hope she has sense enough to stay away," Edward growled. "She's caused enough problems."

"Edward, as I said, she can't help how she feels. There is no sense in blaming your sister. In any event, Bella took her on a run. I imagine they'll stay away for some time yet."

Who were they talking about? Edward's sister? That would be either Alice or...

Rosalie.

Where was Rosalie? Why wasn't she here? Had my attack on a human made her so angry that she'd refused to be by my side while I recovered? Worse yet, had she been injured? Had _I _injured her? I felt panic start to overtake me.

"Carlisle, he doesn't seem to remember what happened. He's wondering where Rosalie is, and I'm afraid he may begin to panic soon." Edward spoke with alarm.

Carlisle paused, probably weighing his options. "Very well, perhaps it would be prudent for us to interfere." I heard light footsteps make their way to the couch and Carlisle sat beside me. He put his cold hand on my shoulder. Involuntarily, I shivered from the touch. "Emmett, can you hear me son? Everyone is all right. Rosalie is just out for a run with Bella."

"He'll open his eyes in thirty seconds," Alice chirped. Strange, I hadn't heard her come in. "You'll need to keep him from getting up. He'll hurt himself if he tries."

"Thank you Alice," Carlisle acknowledged, and I felt his cold hand press a little more firmly against my shoulder.

The front door opened and shut and a groggy, familiar voice started speaking. "I got here as fast as I could. Nessie said it was an emergency and the packs needed to know. What's going... _Holy crap!_" Jacob shouted.

Once again, I inhaled, trying to catch his scent, and I smelled nothing. Maybe I was the one who was injured? Had I lost my sense of smelll? My heart started to race.

My heart?

Of their own accord, my eyes flew open and I started to leap to my feet. Heeding Alice's warning, Carlisle easily and gently restrained me. "Don't try to move yet, son. Do you understand what's happened to you?"

I blinked, looking around the room. My eyes weren't focusing correctly. Everything was blurry, undefined. I couldn't see clearly. The colors were all wrong. The details were missing. It was as if I was viewing everything through a filter. Jasper walked carefully into view, trying to keep some semblance of control over my emotions, which were running rampant. His scars. Where were they? I couldn't see them anymore.

"It takes a bit of getting used to," Aro's sympathetic voice came from the chair nearest to the couch.

"What does?" I asked, and I was shocked by how gruff and unfamiliar my voice sounded. Raspy. Uneven.

"Aro..." Edward warned.

Aro didn't listen. "Becoming a human, of course."

Human? I'd become a human? But that meant...

Rosalie.

Slowly, the memories came back to me. Rosalie in the garage, telling me that she wasn't sure that hurting me bothered her anymore. Me asking if she didn't love me. Rosalie's silence. The unbearable thirst, the cold, my heart racing, the blurry vision. It all made sense.

I was human.

My eyes started to sting and my vision became even more blurry. What was happening? I felt the moisture on my face and realized I must have been crying. I couldn't remember ever crying in my human life—my original human life, I supposed—after all, I was a man, and men weren't supposed to cry. In the face of losing my lifelong mate though, I couldn't think of any other way to react. I sat up slowly, Carlisle allowing me to do so, and threw my arms around my father, sobbing onto his shoulder. I didn't care that Edward, Jasper, Alice, Jacob, and Aro were all there watching. I didn't care who saw. It was over. Everything was over. Life. Love. Meaning.

Esme flitted over and took my hand in her cold one. "Emmett, I'm so sorry," she whispered soothingly. Without thinking about it, I moved my arms from my father to my mother. She was the one I needed most right now. Well, not the one I needed _most_, but that person would never allow me to hold her right now. Esme moved closer and pulled me to her, lightly ruffling my hair with her chilly feather touch. After a few minutes, Jasper took over again, pushing enough of the sorrow away that I could at least stop sobbing hysterically.

"S-sorry," I muttered, wiping away a tear.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Edward responded firmly.

I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself with Jasper's help.

"What happens now?" Jacob demanded. Seth was him. Great, someone else had witnessed my breakdown. Jacob was greeted with a fiery glare from my normally compassionate mother. "Sorry. I'm sure this sucks and everything, Emmett, but Nessie asked me to be here and I need to know what's expected of the packs."

"At the moment, we just wanted you to be aware of the situation," Carlisle told him. "We find it best to be forthcoming with any new developments, rather than allowing the packs to believe that we have attempted to deceive you."

"Are you going to kick Emmett out now that he's not a bloo—you know." Jacob finished awkwardly.

"Of course not," Esme answered firmly. "Emmett is part of this family. Period."

The door clicked again, and I turned to see who was coming in now. My movements were too slow, my reaction times too long. Bella and Rosalie were already in the room before I had finished turning my head. Bella looked completely horrified without a trace of sympathy in her face. She clamped both of her hands over her nose and mouth and started to shake.

"Edward, I need to get out of here!" she cried frantically, her eyes wide.

"Bella, love, I know it's shocking, but..."

"_Now_, Edward!" she shrieked, removing one hand from her face and grabbing his arm. She pulled him out of the house before he had time to say anything further.

"What was that all about?" I asked.

Jasper looked confused. "She was thirsty. Uncontrollably thirsty."

"She's been around Aro for two weeks without an outburst like that?" Esme formed her observation as a question.

Alice shut her eyes. "Jacob, would you stay right there please? I need to see." She walked slowly to the other end of the room, placing her fingertips lightly on her temples. It was no use, since Nessie came downstairs at that precise moment.

"Is Emmett awake?" she asked. "Where are my parents?" she added, looking around the room.

"They left unexpectedly. We don't know why," Carlisle explained.

"Wow, Emmett, you smell... _Really _good," Nessie said sheepishly.

"Is that supposed to be some kind of compliment?" I asked.

"Unfortunately, no." Nessie told me. "I'm going to go see if I can catch up to Edward and Bella and find out why they left." She turned to leave, but Jacob stopped her.

"I want to stay another couple of minutes," he explained.

My eyes were locked on Rosalie. She was looking everywhere except my direction. "So I suppose this is a human sanctuary now?" she sniffed.

"Rosalie!" Esme scolded her. "What would you have us do?"

"I'm not living in the same house with _him_," she snarled. "Are you telling me I have to leave? You'd choose him after you took my life from me without asking?"

Carlisle's expression was pained. "Rosalie, please don't make this more difficult than it already is," he pleaded. She had hit upon one of his few weak points: His guilt over bringing her into this life—_that_ life—and causing her so much unhappiness.

"No," I interrupted. "No, it's fine. I'll just um. I'll find somewhere else to stay. It's no big deal." Why did I care where I was living? I wasn't even sure I wanted to _be_ alive. Not without her.

"He can stay with us!" Seth piped up cheerfully.

"Oh Seth, we wouldn't want to put you out," Esme began.

"No, it's fine! Leah might be annoyed that I didn't ask her first, but he's a human, and he knows about vampires and werewolves. He needs protection, and what better place is there for him than La Push?" It made sense. A lot of sense.

"Maybe he could stay with Bella and Edward in the cottage?" Esme offered. I knew she didn't want to put too much distance the family and me, especially having me someplace where the rest of the family wasn't allowed to go.

"Let me call Edward," Nessie pulled out her phone and called. "Hi Edward. Yeah, Rosalie's being a real bitch." Rosalie hissed and stepped toward Nessie, but seemed to think better of it after remembering that Jacob and Seth would happily guard her with their lives. "She refuses to let Emmett live here, and Esme was wondering if maybe he could... Oh... Oh really... _Oh_. Well, I guess that's not much of an option, is it? No, no, don't worry, he's going to go stay with the Clearwaters, at least until we figure something else out. I'm sure it'll be fine. Shoot, I forgot all about school! I'm just going to get dressed and leave from here, okay? All right, I'll talk to you tonight. Love you too." Nessie hung up the phone.

She glanced awkwardly around the room. "Uh. Apparently my parents had to leave because uh, Bella had kind of a reaction to the way Emmett smelled to her."

I groaned. "Please tell me I'm not her personal blood singer."

"Yeah, I uh, I have to get ready for school," she said awkwardly before dashing back up the stairs.

Seth was practically wagging his tail with excitement, and he was in human form. "Come on Emmett, let's go get your stuff and take it back to my place! It'll be fun. We'll be like roommates!"

Esme watched on hesitantly, and I was sure that her eyes would be filled with tears if she still had the ability. "Well, perhaps for a few days until we get things figured out, it might be best." She looked to Seth. "We will, of course, cover any expenses Emmett incurs during his stay."

Seth bounded up the stairs with Alice close behind to help him pack my things. Rosalie sniffed again and went back out the front door. She hadn't even so much as looked in my direction. My heart had only started working again a few hours ago, and already it was broken.


	17. Moving

**So, anyone have any thoughts on Nessie's remark about Rosalie in the last chapter? I know it wasn't the worst word in the English language, but the fact remains that I usually keep things pretty PG. Guess everyone must have agreed with her assessment of the situation. =) I know Rosalie seems pretty heartless right now, but the story's not over yet. If anything, Act II just started last chapter!**

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Seventeen - Moving

While Alice and Seth continued diligently packing up my belongings, Jacob decided to go ahead and drive me to La Push. He and Seth had arrived in the Ferrari, which didn't exactly have space for three people, let alone a bunch of boxes. If I had been in a better mood, I probably would have made some remarks about how funny it was that Jacob had spent years deflecting our attempts to buy him a better car, yet had ended up with something far more costly than we would have tried to foist upon him. As it was, I spent the ride to the reservation staring out the window as the world blurred past me, overcast and gray, exactly how I felt inside.

"Do you mind if I make a phone call?" Jacob asked.

I shrugged. Opening my mouth to speak seemed like too much effort right now. I was afraid if I started to talk, all I would do was repeat her name over and over. Rosalie. Rosalie. Rosalie.

After a short pause, Jacob seemed to take my lack of response as an affirmative. "Bella," he said into his phone in a lighthearted voice. "I need to ask a favor. Can Seth borrow your truck to drive some of Emmett's things out to the res? No, it'll just be Seth in there. I'll bring it back to your place later and then run home. No, I promise, we won't let Emmett anywhere near it. Great, thanks Bells. I feel awful that I couldn't drive Nessie to school this morning like I'd planned, but she didn't seem too upset about it. Oh, I'm sure Emmett understands. He's in good hands, don't worry. Talk to you soon."

Jacob looked at me awkwardly like he wanted to say something, but he had gathered that my ears were still working, if not quite as well as they used to. I had understood the important parts of the conversation. Seth would be driving Bella's truck with my belongings, Jacob would be taking it back, and I was forbidden to go near it because my scent would drive Bella into an uncontrollable bloodlust. I snorted to myself. I didn't think I particularly cared for being a pariah. Honestly, what _had_ I done to deserve all of this?

_Wallowing in self-pity isn't your thing, Emmett_, I reminded myself. No matter how lousy I felt, I really didn't want to bring everyone else down with me. With all the inner strength I could muster, I straightened my back and turned to face Jacob. "I thought you guys didn't carry cell phones?"

Jacob took his eyes off the road momentarily to give me a confused look. I was sure he expected me to say something more sorrowful or meaningful, but he seemed content enough to go along with my attempts at keeping things light. "Most don't," he acknowledged. "Can't exactly keep in touch with your family via the usual communication methods though. Speaking of which..."

Jacob dialed once again, this time calling Carlisle. At Jacob's request, Seth was put on the phone. "Hey, I wasn't sure if you'd phase to try to get in contact with me or not, so I thought I'd do things this way. Bella said it was all right for you to borrow her truck to transport Emmett's stuff out to your place. I'll bring the truck back later today. Okay, sounds good. See you."

I forced myself to smile, as foreign as the expression felt to me. "Thanks Jacob," I told him, hoping that some of my gratitude was actually coming out I my tone.

"Hey, no problem. I know we've had our differences with you and your family in the past, but in a weird way, you're my family now too."

Maybe talking about someone else's problems would help me take my mind off of my own. "So, Nessie seems like she's had her mind on something else for awhile. Any idea what that's about?" I asked.

Jacob sighed. "I have no clue. I stopped asking her to talk to me about it when she made it clear that it annoyed her that I kept asking. I wish she'd just _show_ me."

Nessie had all but stopped using her gift once she'd gotten to be about five years old. Initially, it had been her preferred method of communication, but once she was the physical equivalent of a preteen, she suddenly placed a higher value on her privacy. At her request, Edward and Bella had stopped watching her dreams. She still used her gift every now and again, when she lacked the words to properly convey an emotion or when speaking would take far too long. For the most part though, she preferred to use the same type of verbal communication that the rest of us relied upon, save for Edward.

"Yeah, she doesn't do that much anymore," I remarked. "Well, you know how teenaged girls are. It's probably nothing," I added for Jacob's benefit.

"Maybe," he lamented. "We're nearly there. I forgot you haven't exactly been out this way much."

"I was never exactly allowed," I reminded Jacob bitterly. Taken aback by the force of my words, Jacob returned his full attention to the road while he composed his thoughts.

"You were _there_ when the treaty was made with my great-grandfather," he said at last. "If you objected to the terms of the agreement, why didn't you say something?"

I stared back out the window again, contemplating. "I guess I didn't object at the time. Things have changed though. We've freely opened our doors and our home to the packs. We share everything with you guys, particularly you and Seth. My niece is able to come and go as she pleases to your land, but we can't go with her, barring any extenuating circumstance. It just feels... I don't know, one-sided." Like my love for Rosalie, I added mentally. No need to voice that thought aloud and make Jacob feel awkward.

Jacob seemed to be lost in thought, and I was content enough to lapse back into silence. After a lengthy break in conversation, he cleared his throat. "I suppose there's some truth to what you say." He spoke slowly and deliberately, and there was a hint of finality in his tone, so I didn't bother to reply. Surprisingly, the silence in the car wasn't at all uncomfortable. Though I hated myself for thinking it, I was beginning to understand what Bella had seen in this mutt when she was human. He really was pretty easy to be around, at least if you weren't a vampire. I guessed Nessie was in good hands after all.

I tried to busy myself by recalling exactly why I hadn't liked Jacob before Bella and Edward got married. Was it just because of the whole "mortal enemies" thing, or had he actually done something to upset me? Apart from trying to steal my brother's girlfriend, of course. Oddly, I found that I was having a little trouble remembering much, and not just about Jacob. When I focused too hard on a specific memory, it was as if my brain was shutting down. Well that was just great. Human memories faded away when becoming a vampire, and apparently vampire memories were too overwhelming to remember when becoming a human again. Yet I had no trouble recalling every detail of her face, the feel of her skin, the graceful movements she would make, even the way she'd storm out of a room when she was irritated. Why could I forget everything except for the things I wanted to push aside?

Jacob steered the car down a narrow, winding road and I realized we must be nearly there. Sure enough, a few minutes later we were pulling up to a small house that looked as if it was at least twice as old as me. I hoped it had modern plumbing. I looked around for an outhouse but didn't see one, so I guessed it was probably all right.

"Welcome to Casa de Clearwater," Jacob joked. "Uh, I better go in first. If Leah flips out, it's a lot better if she beats up on me than on you."

Great, Leah was home. This day was just getting better and better.

Jacob slowly approached the heavy wooden door and knocked before slowly pushing it open. "Leah?" he called out.

"What do you want, Jacob?" a female voice snarled back. This was a bad idea. If I had any other choice... But I didn't.

"Leah, don't get mad..." Jacob began.

That was all it took for Leah to burst into the room. She seemed so much more terrifying now that I had no ability to fight back if she were to start throwing punches. "What is _he_ doing here?" she growled angrily, cinching her bathrobe more tightly around her waist. Apparently, she'd only been out of the shower for a few minutes. Her short cropped hair was dripping wet.

"It's complicated," Jacob began.

"Wait, why doesn't he stink?" Leah demanded.

"That's part of why it's complicated," Jacob told her.

"Is this some kind of trick? Some kind of bloodsucker hypnosis?" She took a cautious step toward me and gasped. "Jacob, he's human! How—"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you," Jacob interrupted. "Apparently, it's possible for them to revert to being human under very specific circumstances. They didn't know either until last week."

"So they say," Leah snorted. "So they've been able to become human again all this time and they just _choose_ to be leeches. Jacob, I _told_ you they weren't as great as you think, but oh no, you're mister big leech lover, falling all over yourself to make that half-leech abomination happy."

"Leah," Jacob warned. Leah had crossed a line in talking about Nessie like that in front of Jacob. "They don't _choose_ to be what they are. You have no idea what Emmett's been through."

"I'm sure. I'm just too simple-minded to comprehend the difficult problems of bloodsuckers." Leah glowered at me. "Get him out of my house," she growled, addressing Jacob once again.

"This was a bad idea, Jacob," I said. "Maybe... I don't know, maybe Esme can find me a place somewhere. It's not like we don't have money."

"No, Emmett, Seth was right, you need protection, at least until things are straightened out. You're a human who knows about us, and about vampires. Seth invited you to stay here, and Leah's just going to have to deal with it. It's his house as much as it's hers," Jacob told me firmly.

"He thinks he's going to _stay_ here?" Leah's voice went up in pitch, and from the way she was shaking, I was pretty sure she was about to phase right here in her own living room. I glanced around at the possessions she and Seth had. It looked like there were a lot of family heirlooms in here, and a lot of stuff seemed pretty breakable. I should probably be afraid for my life, but at this point, I really didn't care what happened to me. Death at the hands of a crazed she-wolf didn't seem so bad after everything else that had happened to me.

"Leah, will you listen to reason? His life might be in danger. Whether you like it or not, he's a human. Would you turn your back on a human who is in danger of being killed by vampires, even if he _wasn't_ a friend of your brother's?" Jacob pleaded. Slowly, Leah seemed to regain control of her body.

"I'm going to go change," she huffed. "_You_ might have seen me less than fully dressed, but that's no reason he needs to get a show. I'll be back in five minutes, and I expect a full explanation. You stay here and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." The way she was barking orders at Jacob, one would think that she was the Alpha and he was the Beta, rather than the other way around.

"That went well," I remarked once she was out of the room.

"I can hear you, you know," she called. Right, I'd nearly forgotten that I was the only one here without supernatural hearing.

Jacob clapped a blazing hot hand on my shoulder, although it was less fiery than I remembered. "It'll be all right. I'll explain everything. You just sit back and relax. Seth will be here soon, he'll help out too."

Sit back and relax. That was a joke. I'd never been more tense since the day I was born. The normal human aches and pains and itches were about to drive me insane, since I hadn't had to deal with them in so long. I felt like I might just explode standing there. On top of everything else, I was hungry. I had no idea what to eat. I couldn't remember what I'd liked to eat when I used to be human. I had no idea how to prepare food, and I wasn't about to ask Leah for help. Maybe Seth knew his way around the kitchen.

A few minutes later, Leah returned wearing a black tank top and a pair of the same cutoff denim shorts that were essentially the uniform of the other wolves. She strode into the room and crossed her arms, her body language speaking volumes more than her words did. "Well?" She really was a lot like Rosalie. Her presence was commanding, and she wouldn't be ignored. I felt a twinge of pain as I was reminded of my wife by this woman who looked absolutely nothing like her.

"What do you want to know?" Jacob asked.

"Why is he human?" Leah continued to speak as though I wasn't even in the room, and that suited me fine. I didn't really feel much like talking.

"It's complicated," Jacob said once again.

Leah rolled her eyes. "If you tell me that one more time, you won't have to cut your hair for awhile, because I'll rip it all off of your head by the roots." I actually thought she might, too.

"Well, see..." Jacob looked at me and winced. He knew this was going to be painful for me.

"It's okay, Jacob. I understand you're trying to help, but I can handle this," I told him. I drew in a deep breath, once again absurdly surprised by the fact that I didn't detect any wolf aroma in the air. "It turns out that vampires become human again if they're rejected by their mates."

Leah stood perfectly still for a few seconds while this information sunk in. "So Rosalie...?"

"'Fraid so," I said, dejected.

Leah's eyes immediately filled with sympathy, which was just about the last thing on Earth I wanted from her. Just let her go back to wanting to rip my throat out. I could at least wrap my head around that. I looked away. I turned back when she began to speak again, and her features had hardened once more.

"Well, I guess if Seth gave him permission to stay here... I mean it _is_ his house too. You're right, Jacob, we can't have any filthy bloodsuckers coming down here and killing a human on our watch, no matter what it used to be. Just stay out of my way... _kid_." I opened my mouth to argue with being called a kid, but when you got down to it, Leah was physically older than I was. I'd only been twenty when I was changed, and she and Jacob were both twenty-four. She sneered at me as if she were daring me to speak again. When I didn't, she announced that she had to finish getting ready for work and disappeared again.

"I've got to get home and get ready for work myself," Jacob informed me. "I'll come back and pick up Bella's truck on my lunch break. Seth should be here any minute. He doesn't have to work for a few hours, so he'll be able to show you around. Will you be all right until he gets here?"

"Sure," I answered, trying to force my voice to sound cheerful. When exactly did these guys sleep anyway? Between working and patrolling and whatever semblance of a social life they had, it didn't seem like they had the time for it.

Sure enough, barely two minutes had passed after Jacob left before I heard a loud vehicle pulling up in front of the house. I started to get up to help unload my belongings, but then I remembered that Bella had specifically asked me to stay away. I sighed and tried to feel sympathetic for what she was going through. After all, I'd had a couple of encounters myself with humans who smelled especially good. For the first time, those memories no longer brought a burn to my throat. Maybe being a human wasn't _all_ bad.

Seth emerged carrying a couple of boxes. "Hey Emmett. I hope Leah didn't give you too much of a hard time?"

"Nah, she was... Very hospitable," I lied. Leah had heard Seth come in and stepped out to greet him, dressed in a pair of black pants with a matching vest. She seemed to be just about ready to leave for work.

"You need any help with that stuff?" Leah asked her brother. "Eww, gross, it smells like leech."

"The smell will wear off," Seth told her cheerfully. "Sure, if you want to grab a couple boxes, this will go faster. I thought we'd stick him in your old room for now."

Leah nodded and darted outside. The man in me felt badly about letting a woman move my belongings, but I reminded myself that she was a lot stronger than I was now. "She took over my parents' old room as soon as my mom moved out," Seth whispered to me by way of explanation. "I thought it would be easier _not_ to argue with her about it." In spite of everything, I grinned. I couldn't help agreeing that it probably made life a lot easier to just let Leah have her way more often than not.

Within a matter of minutes, a dozen or so boxes had been moved into the house, and I was overtaken again by melancholy. Apparently, all I had to show for my century of life could fit easily into the back of a pickup truck. I had to take a breather. "Seth, where's the bathroom? I need to freshen up a little," I lied.

"Well if that's everything, I'm gonna head to work," Leah said. "See you later. Have fun babysitting," she smirked.

"Sure, bye Leah!" Seth replied cheerfully before walking me to the door of the restroom. "It's not as big and nice as yours, but it's got everything you really _need_ in a bathroom," he told me. "I'll give you the tour when you're done, and then we can talk about breakfast."

"Thanks," I answered gratefully. If I hadn't known better, I'd swear that Seth was the one who could read minds rather than my brother Edward. Was he still even my brother? Ugh, I hated all this uncertainty. I entered the restroom and shut the door behind me, grateful for a few moments of privacy.

I hunched over the sink, putting my hands on the counter and staring down into the faucet below. I turned on the water so that it would sound like I was actually in here for some purpose other than to grasp at the gaping hole in my chest that Rosalie had left. My breath was coming in gasps, and I felt dizzy, as if I might pass out any second just from the sheer agony of being apart from her. I had to get a grip. I stuck my hands under the faucet and was relieved at the cold temperature. I splashed some on my face.

"You can do this," I muttered to myself, no longer really caring if Seth could hear me or not. "It's not like you have to go on for eternity. Just a few decades. You can do it." I kept coaching myself as I looked up at my face in the mirror.

It was the first time I'd seen my human face since I was turned. There was a hint of stubble growing in. Great, I'd have to get Seth to teach me how to shave with a modern razor. I was surprised to see that my eyes were blue. I had long since forgotten what color they were. Of course, I could have asked and someone would have told me, but it had never seemed very important before. Suddenly, it seemed to matter. I had brown hair and blue eyes. Interesting. Maybe that was part of what had attracted Rosalie to me in the first place.

I sighed. When I had first become a vampire, I had quipped that Hell wasn't so bad if you got to keep an angel with you. Now my angel was gone, and I was still in Hell, but it was an entirely different kind of Hell. Here, there was no burning. There was only emptiness. I would trade it for the other kind in a heartbeat.

I pulled myself together again, trying to plaster a smile on my face for Seth's benefit. He wasn't used to seeing me as anything other than cheerful, and we'd all been through enough world-shattering revelations in the last few days. I didn't want to add to it by showing him how miserable I truly felt.

Seth tilted his head in confusion at my upbeat demeanor, but didn't remark on it. He showed me around the house, which was small, but quite comfortable. My room was down the hall, and it was decorated in pink colors that had likely been picked out by Sue for Leah when she was a little girl. I couldn't imagine her choosing a pink room when she was older. If Jasper could see me now, surrounded by pink and lace...

Seth _did_ know his way around the kitchen, as it turned out. "You learn pretty fast when you live with Leah," he quipped. "Asking her to cook for you pretty much results in staring down a giant wolf. I'd advise you against it, even if it means you have to eat a raw onion or something." I nodded solemnly. I had already more or less come to that conclusion.

Seth prepared a breakfast of bacon, eggs, and pancakes, all the while explaining to me how it was done. He showed me how to tell the difference between nonstick pans and stainless steel pans and which kinds of spatulas to use with each. "If you use metal on a nonstick pan, you'll scratch the coating," he explained. "If you scratch the coating, you'll have to answer to Leah." I started to get the general impression that my entire existence as long as I stayed with the Clearwaters was going to be spent trying to avoid Leah's wrath.

We sat at the table to eat. Apparently, Leah didn't approve of eating in the living room. She certainly had a lot of rules. I had to admit, the food tasted pretty good to me. Granted, I didn't have a lot to compare it with, but it satisfied my hunger and went down easily. After breakfast, Seth told me he had to get in a few hours of sleep before work and to make myself at home as best I could. I decided to fill some of my time with unpacking.

In addition to my clothes, Alice had packed up some games and movies for me. That had been thoughtful of her, but I was concerned about whether Edward and Jasper would mind. Of course, they could always just rush out and buy some new stuff, so I guessed it probably wasn't a big deal to them. It must have been pretty hard for Alice to decide what to buy for me when she couldn't see my future to determine what I'd need. Still, she'd done what she could. I finished unpacking in a little over an hour, after which I had no idea what to do with myself. Seth was sound asleep; even with human ears I could hear his snores wafting down the hall. I wondered if Leah had anything to say to him about that. The idea of Leah bursting into his room and waking him up to yell at him for snoring didn't seem very farfetched, and it made me chuckle.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my cell phone. I had a missed call from Esme. My mother must be worried sick about me. I stepped out the front door so my conversation wouldn't disturb Seth and called her back.

"Emmett, is everything all right dear?" She didn't even say "hello" when she'd answered the phone.

"As well as can be expected," I replied, trying to keep my still-unfamiliar voice even.

"Is there anything we can do for you at all?" Esme's voice was pleading. She wanted so desperately to help me, and I was sure it must have made her feel utterly helpless not to even be able to visit me. It would make her feel so much better if I could just think of something she could do for me.

"Well, maybe you could send Nessie over with some dinner for me tonight? I mean, if she wouldn't mind of course. It's just that Seth's only shown me a little of how to cook, and I don't dare ask Leah for help while he's at work tonight..."

Esme was practically squealing with delight. "Of course, of course, I'll have something ready for you. Nessie was planning to visit after school anyway, I'm sure she won't mind bringing some dinner for you. If there's anything else I can do, anything at all, you'll call?"

"Of course, Mom. Thanks. Oh, actually, there is one other thing," I had forgotten about my Jeep, which I supposed was understandable given the circumstances. It wasn't every day that a person woke up as an entirely different species than they'd been the night before.

"Anything, dear," Esme replied eagerly. I explained the situation with my Jeep, and she promised to get it taken care of right away. Seth or Jacob would be able to go pick it up and bring it to me either tomorrow or the next day. "Will you visit once you have your car back?" she asked hopefully.

"Um... Are you sure that's such a great idea?" I asked her. "Rosalie doesn't want me around, and Bella would kind of rather drink my blood than look at me."

"Alice will let us know when the best time for you to visit will be, of course," Esme told me, and a light chuckle escaped from my throat without warning. Of course Alice would be all over this.

"Well, you call me when she's figured out a good time for me to drop by, and I'll be there if it's at all possible," I informed her. That answer seemed to appease my mother.

"We miss you, Emmett. I don't want you to think that we love you any less. I'm still trying to work with Rosalie to come up with another solution. I don't want to lose either one of you."

Tears sprung to my eyes again. Of course I knew my family hadn't abandoned me. "I know, Mom. How is she anyway?"

There was a pause. "She seems to be adjusting all right," she allowed at last.

"That's good," I said sincerely. "I want her to be happy."

Esme sighed. "I know you do. You're such a wonderful man. You deserve to be happy too. Well, I'd better get going."

Of course, she still had five other children and a grandchild to look after. "All right. It was good talking to you, Mom."

"Stay in touch, Emmett. Anytime you need me, don't hesitate to call."

I hung up the phone and felt alone all over again.

**A/N: You guys know I'm not too big on giving away details, but I know how some of this stuff sounds... So to avoid unnecessary speculation and fear, I want to make _absolutely clear_ that Emmett is definitely _not_ going to become romantically entangled with Leah. Rosalie is his true love, and even if that weren't the case, he's not even close to over her right now. So no worries!**


	18. Confession

**Thanks for hanging in there so far. For those who have expressed concerns that Rose is acting somewhat OOC, actually, yes, I very much agree. Emmett is an unreliable narrator on this point, because he's too grief-stricken to look further into her motives. All I can say is, all will become clear in time. **

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Eighteen - Confession

The next few hours were painfully difficult to kill. It was astonishing—I had spent the last eighty years doing nothing but killing time, and now I was suddenly struggling to find something to do with a few hours. It didn't help that everything I tried to do reminded me of _her_. If I tried to watch a movie, I saw something of her the actresses. That one tossed her hair the same way she did. That one had legs a little like hers. If I tried to listen to music, every song seemed to be about her. Eventually, I hooked up the video game system that Alice had sent over. In the process, I poked myself in the finger repeatedly while trying to find the correct spots on the Clearwaters' television for the cables. This had been so much easier with enhanced senses. Once the game was hooked up though, all I could think about was the way she used to smile at me from across the room while I played. She was my entire universe. What was I supposed to do now that it was winked out of existence?

Jacob dropped by on his lunch break to pick up Bella's truck, and he paused for a few minutes to check in on me. I assured him that I was fine, that he didn't need to worry, and that he should get Bella's truck back to her. She'd been without it for so long, I doubted she wanted to be away from it for much longer. Jacob made some disparaging remarks about my family throwing me out, and I reminded him that I had readily agreed to the arrangement.

In truth, it hadn't bothered me in the slightest to move out of my family's house. I didn't think I could stand to see her every day without being able to touch her. It would have been tantamount to torture. Furthermore, looking at everyone else in the house with their perfect life mate would have been too much to bear. I was beginning to understand at last why Edward had felt compelled to move away from us when he tried his hand at leaving Bella behind. When I'd agreed so quickly to move away without even allowing Esme to try to mediate the situation, I had secretly hoped that a change of scenery might make all of this easier for me.

It didn't.

I had hoped, too, that being human might decrease my capacity to feel emotions enough that I could tolerate this feeling and maybe even move past it.

It didn't.

If Bella could ever stand to be around me again, I would have to tell her that I finally understood how she felt back when she thought Edward didn't care for her anymore. The only thing that could possibly feel any worse than this would be if Rosalie were hurt or...

I stopped myself from thinking about Rosalie being gone completely. That thought was not remotely compatible with my continued existence. As long as she was alive, safe, and happy, I could get a handle on myself.

"Okay, Emmett," I muttered under my breath to myself. "Time to cheer up." Time would pass, whether I thought about her or not. I would do my best _not _to think about her. I turned the television back on again and flipped channels until I found an old Bugs Bunny cartoon. Excellent, this wasn't going to remind me of her. I watched for awhile, not really seeing what was happening on the screen at all.

Before I knew it, Seth's alarm clock started going off and I heard him shuffling around, most likely getting ready for work. After a few moments, I heard the shower come on, which seemed to confirm my original guess. I checked the time and started getting insanely excited about the prospect of Nessie visiting soon. Right now, she was my most tangible connection to my family. Although I was free to call at any time, seeing one of them face-to-face would help me to feel connected to them again in some small way.

Connected to _her_ in some small way. After all, Nessie wouldn't even be alive if Rosalie hadn't fought for her...

"Stop it!" I shouted at myself just as Seth shut off the water.

"Stop what?" Seth called back. "We do still bathe, you know, as much as you might have disagreed with me yesterday."

"Not you," I yelled.

Seth stepped out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. He was no less dressed than I typically saw him, considering the wolves' apparent distaste for shirts. "Leah's not still here, is she? I thought she left hours ago."

"She did," I confirmed.

"Well then who were you talking to?"

"No one," I mumbled.

Seth looked at me with confusion apparent in his features for a moment before finally grasping the reality of the situation. "Oh," was all he said.

"Yeah," I replied. "Pathetic, huh?"

"Nah, you've had a rough day. Oh, since I'm going to be at work tonight, did you want me to show you what we've got that you can make for dinner? I'd say you can help yourself, but there's a few things of Leah's you probably shouldn't touch..."

I snorted, despite everything. Of course Leah would have rules about what food I could and couldn't eat. "No thanks, it's all right, Esme's sending Nessie over with some food for me. She should be here soon. She got out of school a couple hours ago."

"Oh," Seth's face brightened. "That's good, right? Your dinner is taken care of, and you get to see Nessie. That should cheer you up a little."

"Yeah, I'm sure it will," I replied, forcing a smile for Seth's benefit. He departed the room awkwardly and returned to his bedroom to get dressed for work. A few minutes later, I heard a loud car outside. I leaped up in excitement and peered out the window between the blinds. Sure enough, Nessie had arrived in her Rabbit, formerly Jacob's Rabbit. I flung the door open and greeted her before she'd even emerged fully from the car.

"Hey Emmett," she called back with an armload of plastic containers. "Hang on, let me get in and then you can tackle me to the ground."

I stepped aside to give her room to walk into the kitchen. Once there, she began to arrange the containers on the counter, pointing to each as she spoke. "Esme really outdid herself. She made a meatloaf, some fried chicken, a whole pan of lasagna, some burgers, a gigantic salad, some chili..."

"Why in the world did she make so much food?" I wondered.

"She said she didn't know what you liked, so she'd just make a little of everything and you could let her know what your favorites were once you figured it out," Nessie shrugged. "Plus, I think she was counting on Seth and Leah stealing some of the food. Oh, she says to tell you that Edward brought your Jeep home a couple of hours ago, so anytime Jacob or Seth wants to go pick it up would be fine."

"This is too great, thank you so much for bringing this stuff by, Nessie," I thanked her sincerely.

"Don't worry about it, Emmett. You guys all took care of me when I was growing, now it's my chance to return the favor." She flashed me a quick smile, then immediately frowned. "Boy, you really _do_ smell good."

I quirked an eyebrow at her in response. "Did you inherit your mother's sense of taste or something?"

She laughed. "Probably. But I've got it under control, you know, halfsie and all."

An idea struck me as Nessie helped me stash all of the containers in the freezer. I really didn't feel much like eating right now, so I thought I'd save it all for later. "Say Ness... You feel like taking me for a ride?"

Nessie chewed on her bottom lip, a habit she'd picked up from Bella. "I don't know, Emmett. If my mom gets in my car..."

"Yeah, you're probably right. It's just... I feel kind of like a prisoner in here. If I had my Jeep, I'd feel so much better. Plus, I'd be able to drop by and visit everyone anytime Alice gives the all-clear. But you're right, we can't have my scent floating around where Bella could pick it up," I sighed dejectedly.

Nessie took in my solemn expression. "You look like you've just been through the worst day of your life," she declared.

"That's because I have," I mumbled.

"Okay, tell you what. Let's go get your Jeep. I'll just tell Bella to stay out of my car for a couple weeks. She's got her truck back, so it's not like she'll be chomping at the bit to drive it."

"Awesome! But first, you, young lady, have got to tell me all about your first day at Forks High School." I smirked, feeling a lot more like my old self with Nessie around.

She looked down at her feet, obviously uncomfortable. "There uh, there isn't much to tell," she stammered.

Seth bounded back into the living room again and swept Nessie off the ground in a hug. "Hey Nessie! It's so good to see you!"

Nessie squealed. "You just saw me this morning, you dork!"

"I slept since then, so it was yesterday," Seth answered cheerfully. "Well I've got to get going for work. Emmett, you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine," I assured Seth, a hint of annoyance in my tone. When was everyone going to stop asking me if I was going to be okay? Obviously I wasn't okay. Maybe they just liked hearing me lie to them.

I heard Seth mutter something incoherent, and Nessie gave him a meaningful look in response. Apparently, it had only been incoherent to human ears. He departed the house, whistling an obnoxiously cheerful tune on his way out. I considered asking Nessie what he'd said, but I figured if he wanted to share it with me, he would have said it in a voice such that I could hear properly.

Once Seth was gone, I put my hands on Nessie's shoulders from behind and steered her toward the couch. Naturally, she was much stronger than me and could have resisted, but she played along, probably to try to keep me from crumbling to a pile of sobbing goo. "Now, spill. What happened at school?"

Nessie sighed. "Emmett, you have enough problems, you don't need to hear about mine."

"_Au contraire_, my favorite little niece—"

"—Also your least favorite," she reminded me.

"That's not important right now. Your problems matter very much to me. I used to be able to help you in lots of different ways, but now I'm somewhat limited. At least let me help you in one of the few ways I have left, by listening to your problems." _Maybe it'll help take my mind off of my own_, I added internally. She stared back at me with her huge brown eyes, seeming to size me up. "Let's not forget that I know where all your ticklish spots are," I joked, trying to encourage her to speak.

"I'm a little old for that now!" she protested.

"You're seven years old. Plenty young enough."

Her shoulders shook slightly in amusement as she smiled back at me. "All right," she said at last with a heavy exhale. "I suppose you're the safest person to talk to, since you're not a wolf whose thoughts will be shared by default, and you won't be around Edward for the foreseeable future."

"Did Alice tell you I won't be around Edward for the foreseeable future?" I asked. "Because I don't know if I trust your perception of the foreseeable future as much—"

"Cut it out, you dope!" Nessie giggled as she punched me lightly in the arm. She took a deep breath, and I stopped joking around, waiting for her to begin. "This is really hard to talk about. I haven't told anyone. It's just—I know Jacob imprinted on me right after I was born, and I _do_ love being around him, I _do_. But... Everyone expects me to marry him and settle down and live happily-ever-after, and I'm not sure that's really what I want."

"Nessie—" I began.

"Let me finish," she pleaded, and I stopped talking. "I _do_ love Jacob. I'm sure of that. I'm just not certain of what way I love him. I've never been on a date like a normal girl. I know I'm chronologically only seven, but well, I'm older than that in every other way. Normal girls have been on dates with different guys, have broken hearts and have had their hearts broken. I don't know what _that kind_ of love feels like, because I have nothing to compare it to. I just wish I knew a little more about how all of that works before I committed my entire life to Jacob just because he imprinted on me."

"Nessie," I began again. "I had no idea you felt this way. None of us did. If we'd known, of course none of us would have pushed you into marrying Jacob."

"Wouldn't you?" She gazed back into my eyes, tears welling up in hers. "I've thought about talking to someone about it, but like I said, my options are somewhat limited. I could talk to my mother, but she's just elated that Jacob gets to be a part of her life after everything she put him through before I was born. I don't want to break Jacob's heart like Bella did. I know how crushed he'd be if I told him I didn't want to be with him."

"First of all, you don't really _know_ what you want. You'd be telling him you have to figure that out, not that you definitely, positively, will never consider him as an option, right?" She nodded weakly. "Second, you can't put his feelings ahead of your own. If you decide not to be with him and he can't handle it, well, that's his problem. I don't mean to sound like I don't care about Jacob, because I do, but no one, including Jacob, wants you to spend eternity in misery because it's what you think you're _supposed_ to do." I put my arm around my niece's shoulder comfortingly.

"But look what it did to you," Nessie whispered.

"That's different," I replied.

"How is it different?" She pulled away from me and faced me head-on, skeptically.

"Because of the way imprinting works," I explained patiently. "Jacob is supposed to want to make _you_ happy. He wants what's best for _you_. He's supposed to be whatever _you_ need him to be, and if _you_ need him to be your brother and your friend, then that's what he's supposed to be."

"But—" Nessie protested.

"Renesmee Carlie Cullen," I turned on my stern-uncle voice. "I'm sorry if we gave you the wrong impression, truly I am. You should never, ever, ever feel as if you need to compromise your happiness for someone else. As for your remarks about what Rosalie's rejection did to me, well, it's my problem, and I'm going to deal with it. I wouldn't want Rosalie to stay with me if she wasn't happy." I realized the truth in my own words as I spoke them. "Who wants to be with someone who doesn't want to be with them? It's lunacy. Jacob would want you to do whatever makes you happy."

Nessie tilted her head slightly, looking lost in thought. "Do you really think so?"

"I'm sure of it," I told her. "Now, what does this have to do with what happened at school?"

Nessie squirmed a little, color flushing her cheeks. "There's this boy..."

"Oh geez, I didn't know I was giving you advice about a specific boy. I take back everything I said. Stick with Jacob, he's your man!" I joked.

"Em_mett_," Nessie wailed, giggling. "I met him today at school and he's really cute. I sat with him at lunch and he seems like a nice guy. He asked me if I'd like to go see a movie with him, and I told him I'd have to check with my parents. I really want to go, though."

"Does this boy have a name?" I asked, sounding more like a father than an uncle.

"Josh Weber," she replied.

A huge booming laugh came out of my chest before I had time to stop it. "Angela Weber's little brother?"

"Umm... He told me that he had a twin brother named Isaac, and a sister who lives in Seattle, but he didn't mention her name."

"We went to school with Angela. I mean, your parents and the others and I. She was a very sweet girl, one of your mother's best human friends. She went away to school in Seattle, and I guess she must have decided to stay there. Her father, Joshua's father, performed your parents' wedding ceremony. I think your mother might be more disposed to letting you go on a date with him than with most of the other hoodlums at that school," I informed her.

Her face relaxed, then she broke into a grin. "I guess maybe I'd better talk to her about it tonight then. It would be rude to keep Josh waiting for too long, right?"

"Absolutely. Did he give you his phone number?"

"He did, but I didn't look at it. I have in here somewhere," she muttered as she started going through all of her pockets. "Here!"

"All right, then I would suggest talking to Edward and Bella tonight, then giving him a call with your answer. At least, if it's a yes. If it's a no, then you should probably wait to give him the bad news tomorrow."

"Oh, it'll be a yes," Nessie insisted, fluttering her eyelashes. Her grin had turned slightly evil.

"What exactly do you have planned?" I asked her suspiciously.

"Well, if they put up a fight, I'll just _show_ them how happy it would make me..."

I chuckled. "They're the only parents in the world who definitely don't have to worry about their daughter. I'm pretty sure you can handle one human boy."

"Thanks, Uncle Emmett." Nessie never addressed me as Uncle Emmett, and it made me chuckle. She threw her arms around my waist in a hug. "You know, you'd make a really good dad yourself."

"Would I?" I asked her, amused.

She pulled away and gave me a serious look. "Yes, you really would. I know you're nowhere close to being over Rosalie yet, but you really should consider all of the options that are available to you now that weren't before. Being a human doesn't have to be all fuzzy vision and lousy hearing. There are some good things about it too."

"Like not having to drink blood?" I asked.

"Like not having to drink blood!" she replied with a smirk. "Okay, are you satisfied with the details of my day? Can we go pick up your Jeep now? I really want to talk to my parents about Josh."

"Sure thing, Ness. Let me leave a note for Leah. She might flip out if she comes home and I'm not here." I scrawled a quick note letting Leah know that I'd gone with Nessie to pick up my Jeep and left it on the coffee table where she was sure to see it.

We climbed into Nessie's car, and I resisted the overwhelming urge to make fun of it. If Jacob hadn't ended up with a much better car out of the deal, I might have been a little cross with her for taking advantage of him when she felt the way she did. I was glad that she had come to me to talk about this though, rather than condemn herself to a lifetime of unhappiness with someone she didn't know if she loved.

It pained me to consider what might have happened to my favorite niece if I'd never been turned into a human. She might have spent all of eternity in misery, just because she thought that was what we all wanted or expected from her. I let out a tiny sigh as I watched the trees blur past once more. One day as a human, and I'd already done a world of good. Maybe Nessie was right. Maybe I should try to find the bright side of all of this. If I'd helped her so much in one day, who knew what I might accomplish in the rest of my lifetime?


	19. Evening

**Been updating pretty much daily lately, I know, kinda nuts. To be honest, I've been bored and the weather's been cold and dreary, and so you guys get to reap the benefits. =)**

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Nineteen - Evening

"How is she, anyway?" I asked when we were nearly to the house.

Nessie pursed her lips. "Bella feels terrible about not being able to be around you," she said smoothly.

I rolled my eyes. "You know I wasn't asking about your mom."

"Alice is pretty relieved that she'll be able to see properly for a few hours a day now that I'm in school," Nessie said, sounding hopeful that I would be appeased.

"Nessie..."

"Esme is pretty upset about everything."

"Rosalie. How is Rosalie?" I asked finally.

Nessie seemed suddenly completely enthralled with keeping her attention on the road. Could this be what she and Seth had been mumbling about? Was something wrong with Rose? My heart started pounding. If she was in some kind of trouble, I wanted to help her, whether she hated me or not. I leaned forward in anticipation of the terrible words that might come next.

"I don't know exactly," she answered after a long pause. Impossibly, my heart raced even faster as I struggled to comprehend. "Alice says she's alive and well," she added quickly, which calmed me a little. "It's just... She hasn't come home since this morning. Alice can't tell exactly when she'll be back, because she hasn't made any decisions."

"But Esme said—" I began, recalling my earlier conversation with my mother, who insisted that she was trying to work something out.

"—Esme didn't want to worry you. There's nothing to worry about anyway. Alice is keeping an eye on her. Anyway, Esme _has_ been trying to convince the others to let you come home at least until Rosalie returns, but my mother has been kind of a complication." Nessie looked at me apologetically.

I sighed, leaning back against the seat of the car once more. "I don't blame Bella for any of this, you know. It's not her fault at all. It's a freak thing, something we hardly ever run across. Once a century or so, I guess." I forced a smile, something I'd been doing a lot lately. "Maybe eventually she'll be able to get past it," I said hopefully. "Edward did."

"Yeah, I'm sure she well," Nessie said complacently. By this point, we had arrived and my heart jumped again as we pulled up the driveway. I wanted desperately to go in and see my family, at least the ones who could stand to be in a room with me. The words formed on the tip of my tongue and I considered blurting them out. In the end, I thought better of it. If now had been a good time to visit, Alice would have let me know. Besides, I had no desire to put my niece in the difficult position of trying to keep her mother away from me, particularly in light of the difficult discussion she was about to have with her parents.

Her parents... I sat bolt upright in alarm, remembering a detail of Nessie's story.

"Nessie, wait," I put my hand on her arm as she was about to get out of the car. "You told Josh that you had to talk to your parents about it? Aren't your parent's supposed to be dead?"

Nessie rolled her eyes at me. "Relax, Emmett, I'm new at mingling with humans but I'm not an idiot. I actually said 'my family' when I talked to Josh. I just edited that part a little in the retelling so you would realize I meant Bella and Edward."

"Oh," I gasped in relief as I let my hand slide back off of Nessie's forearm.

Nessie looked on at me, her chocolate brown eyes seeming to peer through me, peeling past the facade of joviality I'd been trying to hard to build up all day. "You know," she said thoughtfully, "it's not exactly your secret to keep anymore."

"What, you think I can't be trusted?" I was hurt by the idea and a little alarmed at the possibilities it brought. After all, just two weeks ago we'd been discussing with the Denalis that the only options for Aro were death or transformation which he may not even survive.

"No, no," Nessie said quickly, shaking her head violently, her newly straightened and colored hair flying in every direction. "I didn't mean it like that. I just meant... It's nice that you're so concerned about us, even when your own life isn't at risk. You know, especially with Aro being a human, if the Voturi _did _come after us, we'd be able to plausibly claim that you had left the family or been killed and they'd never know we were lying. I'm sure that's exactly what we _would_ do, too. To protect you."

"You know I care about all of you. I wish that I could still protect you all, but I can't. The only thing I can still do is listen, worry, and care."

My niece smiled sadly at me, a wistful expression on her features. "Well, I appreciate that you still do. We all miss you, Emmett."

"I miss you guys too," I answered, swallowing a lump in my throat. I was determined not to break down in tears again.

"Edward left the keys in the Jeep. He was able to jerry-rig the battery so that he could get the car home, and he's pretty sure it will make it to La Push, but he said you should have Jacob take a look at it as soon as possible. He's not the mechanic in... the..." Her voice trailed off, realizing what she was about to say. "Well, anyway, his mechanical skills leave a little to be desired," she finished lamely.

"Yeah, I know," I chuckled, realizing that I actually meant it. I wondered if Jasper was messing with me even from inside the house. I supposed it wasn't entirely impossible. I'd seen him work on emotions at range before. It felt good to laugh, regardless. "Thanks Nessie," I told her, giving her a quick hug around the shoulders before she reached for the door handle once again.

"Thank _you_ Emmett," she replied with ferocity. "You don't know how hard it's been for me to keep that bottled up, especially with a mind-reader for a father and an empath for an uncle."

I grinned, amazed that she had been able to keep all of this a secret from Edward. She really must have a lot of determination. I eased myself out of the car, cursing as my mortal muscles got used to their new standing position. I was far from an out of shape guy, but every minor feeling of tension was being interpreted by my mind as pain right now after spending so much time as a vampire. I'd have to check the Clearwaters' medicine cabinet to see if they had any aspirin when I got back. With any luck, I wouldn't accidentally find Leah's personal stash and get a tongue-lashing or worse.

I made my way swiftly to the Jeep, remembering that Bella might step out at any time and chase me down in a flurry of bloodlust. I started the car and headed back to La Push, alone for what felt like the hundredth time. This time though, it was somewhat relaxing. The act of driving soothed my nerves, giving me something to focus on and allowing me to temporarily push aside my sadness.

Before long, I was back. I let myself in the front door, which apparently the Clearwaters didn't bother to keep locked. What would the point be in locking the door anyway? The house was occupied by two giant wolves who would scare off any intruder or be able to sniff them out if they happened to arrive when no one was home. Further, there were plenty of other wolves guarding the village. Truly, there was no reason to fear.

"And just where were _you_, former leech?"

I groaned. I hadn't been looking the least bit forward to being in the house alone with Leah. It seemed she was home from work. "Didn't you get my note?" I asked.

"Sure did. Had to alert Sam's pack that you were down at the Cullens. We've got a treaty to worry about, you know," she sneered.

"Leah, they're my family," I complained. "You can't forbid me from seeing them."

"Nope, but we can keep an eye on you to make sure they don't kill you," she retorted.

"They're not going to hurt me!" I argued, furious at her insinuation.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. From what I understand, Bella thinks you smell especially delicious."

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists as an automatic reflex. Wolf or no wolf, I wasn't about to hit a girl. I'd been brought up too well for that. I sure wished for a moment that I hadn't been. "That's none of your business. It's being dealt with by people who understand."

Leah shrugged nonchalantly, and from the sparkle in her eyes, I could tell she was enjoying this. It seemed that her only source of pleasure these days was to bring misery down upon others. Whatever, I was already miserable enough. I wasn't going to let her affect me. "You've got a loose definition of _people_," she remarked.

I mentally counted to ten before responding. I visualized each number sprouting arms and legs and chasing Leah around the room while she squealed in terror. That made me feel a little better. "I don't really want to argue about this with you right now. Do you have any aspirin?"

"Headache?" Leah asked, momentarily abandoning the argument.

"Not exactly. Being human again is just a little overwhelming. Everything hurts," I admitted.

"Ahh, okay. There might be something in the medicine cabinet, but I have no idea how old it is. That stuff doesn't work on me or Seth. We burn it off too fast." I grunted inwardly. I should have realized this would be the case. "If there's anything around here, it'd be left over from Mom." Obnoxiously, she trailed me as I headed into the bathroom and rummaged through the cabinet. Sue must have taken everything with her when she moved to Forks, knowing that her children wouldn't need any of it.

If she had no patience for my emotional pain, Leah did, at least, seem to take pity on my physical pain. "Try Jacob's house," she suggested. "Billy's got all kinds of painkillers, over-the-counter and knock-you-on-your-butt prescription stuff. I'm sure he won't mind sparing a few pills for a couple of days until you adjust."

"Thanks, Leah," I said, surprised that she'd actually given me helpful information.

"Hey, we're not done here yet, but I can wait until you're a hundred percent," she sneered. "It's no fun to have a battle of wits with an unarmed person, after all."

I rolled my eyes before stepping back out again. I decided to drive the Jeep down, even though Jacob's house was in walking distance. That way, he'd be able to take a look at it when he had a chance. The Ferrari was parked out front, signaling me to the fact that Jacob was home from work.

I spoke to him briefly about the Jeep, and he promised to take a look at it in the next day or two. After I'd explained my more pressing problem to him, he sifted through his own medicine cabinet and put several different pills into a small container. He returned and was trying to explain to me which pills were which when Mittens pounced playfully on his foot from his hiding place behind the couch.

"Eeyah!" Jacob jumped, startled. In a flash, he was behind me, using me as a human barrier between himself and the kitten. Mittens, for his part, was looking curiously at me, head tilted to one side. If I hadn't known better, I would have sworn the kitten remembered me and was trying to figure out why I didn't seem so scary anymore. After cautiously sniffing at my leg, he sat down and started contentedly cleaning his face.

"Seth told me you were a little jumpy around the kitten, but I had no idea..." I muttered. "It's just a tiny kitten, Jacob."

"I know, but that's the problem," Jacob breathed, slowly emerging from behind me.

"Yeah, Seth filled me in on that part too. I don't get it though. You overcome your instincts to kill my family just fine. Why do you have so much trouble overcoming your instincts where the kitten is concerned?"

"Damn thing insists on taking me by surprise all the time, that's why!" Jacob was glaring at Mittens as he spoke. The kitten sneezed, then trotted happily off to climb into the gigantic kitty-mansion that Nessie had doubtlessly purchased for him. He laid on his back on the top level and batted playfully at a toy dangled there. I couldn't possibly imagine how anyone could ever see the kitten as being anything other than harmless.

"Kitten giving you trouble again, Jake?" A laughing Billy wheeled into the room and took me in with an expression of mild surprise. "Emmett," he acknowledged. "Jacob told me what happened. Still a shock to see in the flesh. What can we do for you?"

"Emmett just came by to see if we could spot him a few painkillers," Jacob explained. "Apparently, the sensations of being human are a little overwhelming for him right now. I put together an assortment for him. I didn't think you'd mind."

"Not at all," Billy replied, reaching for the pillbox Jacob was holding. "May I?"

Jacob handed the pillbox over to his father to let him explain each medicine to me, reluctantly muttering something about needing to check the litter box anyway. As soon as his son was gone from the room, Billy fixed me in place with a steely, otherworldly expression. I could see immediately why he was in charge of the tribe. Beating within Billy Black's frail body was the heart of a warrior, reflected in his gaze.

"I am sorry about your girlfriend," Billy began.

"Wife," I corrected him.

Billy studied my face for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Wife, then. Nonetheless, it is probably for the best. You'll see that one day."

I really didn't feel like arguing with anyone, particularly not the man who was about to give me medicine to relieve my ever-increasing pain. I just stared back at Billy until I realized he was waiting for me to say something.

"I doubt that I will, but I respect your opinion," I said at last. He seemed satisfied enough with this response. He pried open the lid of the pill box with wrinkled, shaking hands. I realized with a churn of my stomach that I would look like that one day, if I was fortunate to survive that long.

Billy pointed to each pill in the box, explaining each type of medicine as he did so. One was only to be taken before bed, because it would relieve my pain and also make me go to sleep. Another was a simple muscle relaxer, which would not specifically block pain receptors in the body, but would prevent my muscles from tensing up too much. He warned me against taking too many of those and stressed that I shouldn't drive after taking them. Most of the round pills were over-the-counter medicine that would provide relief for minor aches and pains. Billy suggested that I take the stronger medicine for a day, then slowly ease off to the weaker pills until I was more accustomed to being human. I planned to follow his suggestions and talk to Carlisle if I was still having problems after a few days. Aro hadn't complained of pain, so I suspected I'd be fine soon enough.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Black," I said sincerely, offering my right hand.

"Billy," he answered, grasping my hand weakly with his own and shaking it.

"I'd better be getting back now. Leah isn't finished yelling at me yet."

He chuckled. "If you plan on hanging around the house until Leah is done yelling at you, you'll be as old as I am before you ever get a chance to leave." How strange. It was almost as if he'd known what I was thinking.

I made my way back to my new home, wincing in pain all the while. It really was becoming more overwhelming as the day went on. "I'm back," I called out, rummaging through the box for one of the pills that would help me sleep. At this point, I just wanted to pass out for a few hours and get some escape. I'd deal with reality again tomorrow.

"Good, then you can explain to me why my freezer is crammed full of containers of food," Leah grumbled.

"Esme," was all that I said, and she snorted in response.

"That explains why it smells like a leech crawled in there," she huffed in annoyance.

"Can we maybe continue this in the morning?" I pleaded with her. "I really just want to take some medicine and go to sleep."

"You're going to have to eat some of that food first," she demanded.

"Fine," I relented, reaching in and grabbing the first box my fingers touched. She snatched it away from me and peered inside, stuffing it into the microwave for me. I was surprised that she actually seemed to be trying to help, making sure that I ate and helping to prepare my dinner, even if heating it up was all that was necessary. I debated on whether or not to thank her, but I felt certain that I would just receive more harsh words for my trouble. Ultimately, I just stood in the kitchen dumbly while waiting for my food to be ready.

After a few minutes, the microwave beeped, and Leah shoved the container into my hands with a fork she'd dredged out of a drawer. "Ow," I complained. "It's hot."

"Toughen up," she smirked.

Remembering Seth's earlier warning, I seated myself at the table and began to eat the meatloaf Esme had prepared. To my delight, it wasn't half bad. The only thing detracting from the taste was the fact that Leah had inexplicably seated herself across from me and was staring curiously at me. I decided to ignore her and continue eating.

"It's strange seeing you eat like a normal person," Leah said at last.

"Guess you'll be seeing a lot of it," I mumbled in between bites.

"Guess so," Leah agreed. She remained silent until I had finished. I went to the sink to wash the dish, Leah on my heels once again. Really, was she planning on following me everywhere? Once my dish was clean, I went back to searching out the nighttime painkillers Billy had given me.

"You're not going to bed already, are you?" Leah asked.

"I was planning on it."

"But it's still early."

"I don't care. I've had a long day and I want to sleep." I swallowed two of the large pills and sat on the couch, waiting for the medicine to take effect. I really wanted nothing more than for Leah to go away. I had no idea why she'd been incessantly following me around, but it was driving me insane. I considered just heading into my new bedroom, but I felt certain that she would just follow me in there too, so I resigned myself to the couch for the time being. Maybe I would just sleep here. Somehow, it felt less intrusive to have her looming over me while I slept if I was out in the open rather than lying in a bed. Then again, maybe I just didn't want to sleep in a pink, lacy room.

Predictably enough, Leah sat down on the couch beside me, tucking her knees up under her chin and wrapping her arms around them. She continued to stare at me with a curious expression, but at least she wasn't trying to pick a fight with me anymore. As the medicine started to take effect, I leaned my head against one of the pillows on the couch and shut my eyes.

"You're not planning to sleep in here, are you?" Leah's voice interrupted the slow, easy calm that was settling over me, almost as if Jasper were here in the room with me.

"'S better'n you followin meearound," I slurred.

She chuckled, her voice sounding more feminine than I had ever heard it before. Not that I'd ever spent a lot of time talking to Leah. She generally tried to avoid my family to the best of her abilities. Her laugh was the last thing I heard before drifting off to sleep for the first time in eighty years.

**I know not a whole lot really happened in this chapter. Sorry for that. I wanted to see Emmett's first day as a human through to the end. The story will be picking up again soon, I promise!**


	20. Path

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Twenty - Path

I was running through an enormous field. I couldn't exactly remember how I'd gotten here. Was I running toward something, or running away from something? Well, either way, I was running in a specific direction. Maybe the reason would come back to me soon. I kept going. It was strange, but my speed kept changing, as did my level of exhaustion. Not quite in the way I would have expected. One moment, I was running at an impossibly fast speed, yet I wasn't the slightest bit fatigued. The next, I was running considerably slower, but my body was screaming out that this was the fastest I could possibly go and I couldn't keep it up for much longer. It wasn't just the speed and the exhaustion that varied, I realized. When I was running faster, I could see more clearly, could smell everything nearby, and could hear the tiniest sounds with crystal clarity. When I slowed down, all of my senses dulled.

Still uncertain of where I was going, I kept running, ignoring my body's occasional pleas to stop. There was something important I needed to do. I could feel it. It was during one of those times that the running was slower and more labored that I realized I wasn't alone. I tried to turn to see who was running alongside me, but I couldn't make my head turn. I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. Whoever was there wasn't speaking either. Maybe he or she was in the same boat that I was.

My surroundings transformed abruptly into a seemingly endless hallway. The walls seemed to stretch on clear to the sky, and it was easily as wide as a football field is long. Staring straight down the hallway was like looking at one of those pictures showing what perspective looked like, where the two lines met in the middle far in the distance. Every surface of the structure seemed to be made of dark gray marble. Two pairs of footsteps echoed through the walls as I continued sprinting in tandem with my unknown partner. Abruptly, I learned that the hallway did have an ending after all. At the end were two large wooden doors, probably around fifteen feet tall. The two doors looked identical to one another, solid and ivory, standing in stark contrast to the dark marble background. They looked out of place, and they also looked extremely heavy.

I really didn't know what I was doing here. Maybe it would be better to turn around. I started to do exactly that when I felt cold hands press firmly on my shoulders.

"You can't go back," an angelic female voice told me.

Finally, I was able to turn my head enough to see her. She was, without question, the most beautiful woman I'd ever laid eyes on. Her hair was golden blonde and flowed to her waist, and her face had been chiseled by an ancient master, his last act before laying down his sculpture materials forever. There would be no way to top this work of art.

"Rosalie," I gasped.

"You can't go back," she repeated urgently, her voice soft, like tinkling bells soothing my every muscle.

Without warning, she flung open the door on the left. I peeked inside and saw the most perfect meadow I'd ever beheld. I would never have believed a place could be worthy of Rosalie's beauty if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Every blade of grass, every flower, every cloud in the sky was in precisely the right place. Every color was perfect, every petal secured firmly to the flower that held it. I found myself unable to breathe at the sight of it. Rosalie smiled at me.

"I've made my choice. Now you have to make yours," she told me. With that, she flung herself through the open doorway and into the meadow, giggling like a little girl as she blended into the majesty of this place. She spun around once, her arms out at her sides and her face looking upward toward the sky with wonder and delight. I started to follow her, but the door flung itself shut as though a strong wind had blown it.

I tried with all my might to pull the door open. I would have wrenched it from its hinges if I could have. I struggled and gasped, but the door refused to budge. I clawed at the wood with my bare hands, screaming for it to open and let me through. I had to go after her. I continued pulling at the door with every ounce of energy I could muster, but it refused to budge. Frustrated, I sank to the ground, pounding the side of my fist against the door and screaming until I was hoarse. When I could move my arm no longer, I simply knelt on the ground before the door, willing it to open and let me pass. When that didn't work, I turned, leaning my back up against the wall and placed my head in my hands in despair.

_Emmett, pull yourself together_, I told myself. _You can't give up. You never give up._

With newfound determination, I rose from the ground once again and made another assault on this door. This time, it opened without hesitation. I started to burst through the door in the hopes that Rosalie hadn't wandered too far yet, but instead of a lush meadow full of fresh flowers and grass, I was greeted with the sight of a desolate wasteland. It was a long, flat land full of nothing but dirt and rock. There was no source of water in sight, no trees, and certainly no civilization. I froze, trying to decide whether to go forward or not. If I could only be certain that this place would lead to her, I would go in a heartbeat, but this was definitely not the place Rosalie had gone.

I backed away from the door slowly, and once again it flung itself shut. Confused, I cautiously approached the door on the right. I was certain Rosalie had gone through the left door, but perhaps I'd been mistaken. This door opened on my first try, further reinforcing my belief that _this_ must have been the door she'd gone through. My heart leapt in my chest, waiting for the reunion that awaited me. It thudded to a halt when I was at last able to peer through the door, only to see that there was nothing more than a second hallway behind it. Just like this hallway, I couldn't see where it ended or what might lie ahead.

My eyes darted back to the door on the left once again. I knew she had gone through that door. Maybe I should go through it after all. If I couldn't find her, I could always retrace my steps and find this hallway again.

"You can't go back," a voice called, echoing Rosalie's earlier words. I whirled around to face Leah Clearwater. How had she gotten here? I was certain Rosalie and I had been running alone.

"You must choose, but you can choose only one. You cannot go back," she intoned flatly. None of her usual ferocity was present.

"I don't understand," I said, finding my voice at last. "I want to go to the meadow I saw before."

"You cannot go where she went," Leah explained patiently. "Your paths intersected for a time, but now she has gone to a place where you cannot follow. Now, you must choose a new path."

"And if I choose to stay here?" I demanded.

"That is your choice to make," Leah replied. "Would you die here in this place, an old man, afraid to select a path?"

"No... But I can't go on without her!" I protested

"And yet you must."

I knew that her words were true even before she'd spoken them. "Will you be accompanying me?" I asked her.

Leah shook her head, her features still unbroken by any type of emotion. "This path is yours alone. I am only here to guide you."

"Alone?" I whispered.

"Only for as long as you choose to be," Leah replied.

I turned around again to stare at the two doors. The door on the left was the one Rosalie had gone through, I was sure of it. If I went through there, maybe I would find her eventually. I turned around to press Leah further, but she was gone.

Slowly, I opened the left door once again and gazed at the barren existence that lie ahead. Although I could only see so far, I was certain that there was nothing more behind this door, no matter how far I might travel. I let the door slam itself once again. I took a deep breath and marched to the right door. Hesitantly, I stepped through. I didn't know where this hallway would lead me, but it was clearly the better choice.

My eyes opened with a start. It had all been a dream. A strange dream, but considering that it was the first dream I'd had in eight decades, I supposed it was the universe's way of catching me up to speed. I took in my surroundings and realized I was no longer on the couch. I was in the pink lacy room, lying comfortably in the bed. It was awfully hot in this room though. I thought I might have preferred to remain on the couch. How had I gotten here, anyway? Did I sleepwalk, on top of everything else? That would be just my luck. I listened carefully and heard the sound of Seth's snores wafting through the house. He must have found me on the couch and carried me in here. Thoughtful kid.

I groaned from the disorientation of it all, plus the thought of facing yet another day. How was I going to do it? I rolled over onto my side, debating the possibility of just staying in bed all day. That was when I caught sight of an enormous gray wolf curled up on the floor next to the bed. I let out a yelp of shock, and the wolf simply lifted its huge head and stared at me curiously. I'd scarcely had time to react, scrambling to the opposite end of the bed in terror. After the most terrifying moment of my entire life, my hazy, sleepy mind finally caught up.

"Jesus, Leah, you scared the living crap out of me," I hissed, not wanting to wake Seth.

The wolf smirked at me and unleashed a short bark of amusement.

"What the hell are you doing in here anyway?" I demanded. I felt kind of stupid talking to a wolf as if it could actually answer me, regardless of whether or not it had the ability to turn into a human.

Instead of answering, Leah snatched the blanket from me with her strong jaw. "Hey!" I protested, causing her to snort. It was a good thing I'd wound up falling asleep with my clothes on. Well, Leah's presence at least explained why the room was so hot.

She pulled the blanket onto the floor while I watched, mildly intrigued, but mostly just irritated. She carefully burrowed her snout into the middle of the blanket, crawling underneath. Now she'd caught my attention. There was no way she was cold. The girl was ten degrees warmer than a human. What was she doing? I could just make out the gigantic form under the blanket as it turned around, eventually poking its head back out of the side again. The snout rapidly began to move backward, as if it were being shoved into her face. The wolf's fur shrank inward, as if sucked in by a gigantic vacuum cleaner. In less than a second, it was over, and Leah was back in her human form, lying on her stomach on the ground. She flipped over on her back and gathered the blanket around her body before slowly rising up off the floor. Ahh. Now I understood.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her again.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go put on some clothes, and then you can interrogate me." I opened my mouth to protest, but she was already out of the room before I'd thought of anything to say. Now what was I supposed to do? Just sit here with a stupid look on my face until she got back? Well, considering that I was still too tired to do much of anything else, I supposed that was exactly what I would do. Did waking up always feel like this, or was it because of the pills I'd taken? I was vaguely aware of the aches and pains again, but they were already less pronounced than they'd been the previous day. I must be adjusting to my new body.

Leah returned, dressed once again in a tank top and cutoff shorts. She tossed the blanket back over me again, which I accepted not because I was cold, but because I somehow felt more protected while it was covering me. It made absolutely no sense, but I was going to go with anything that made me feel better at this point. I sat up on the bed and settled for pulling the blanket up over my lap. Leah flopped down beside me, swinging her legs off the side of the bed and propping herself up with her arms extended behind her.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her for the third time.

"Keeping an eye on you," she answered matter-of-factly, as though it were self-explanatory and I was a fool for asking.

"Okay. But why?"

"You were tossing and turning. I was afraid you were going to roll off the bed like you almost rolled off the couch. That's why I moved you in here."

So Leah had been the one who had moved me. "What do you care if I roll off the bed?" I grumbled.

"I'm not much of a protector if I let you bust your nose open, now am I?"

I examined her face for any sign that she was pulling my leg or trying to pull off some kind of prank on me. She was still regarding me with the same curious expression she'd used yesterday, still calmly swinging her legs as she sat sprawled out and relaxed on the bed.

"All right," I conceded. "Then why have you been following me around? Surely you don't think I'm going to poke my eye out with a fork or bust my head open on the bathroom sink or something?"

"No," she answered truthfully. "No, I don't expect that to happen."

"Then why?" I asked again, getting sick of repeating myself.

She stopped staring at me for the first time, staring instead off into space. Her expression softened first, then hardened, contorting the features of the Quileute woman. She suddenly appeared to have gained at least five years, looking weathered and weary instead of young and vibrant. "I know what it's like to be in your shoes," she said at last.

"You used to be a vampire?" I chuckled.

"No, but if I did, I'd be human now, wouldn't I?" She turned her face back toward me, finally allowing me to see the pain that had caused her to appear so weathered with age. "Sam was my whole world."

I instantly regretted laughing at her attempt to demonstrate her understanding of the emotional pain I was feeling. "I'm sorry," I told her.

She laughed mirthlessly. "For laughing at me, or for what happened to me?"

"I'm not sure," I confessed. "Both, I guess."

"Everyone keeps telling me I'll get over it. I'll meet someone else, I'll move on, I'll live happily-freakin-ever-after. As much as I respect Jacob, he's the worst one of all. 'Look at me, Leah. I thought I'd never recover when Bella chose Edward over me, but then I found Nessie. Things will work out for you too.' You know what nobody's ever been able to explain to me though, Emmett? How the hell am I supposed to 'find somebody else' when I can't trust anyone?" Her eyes were pleading, begging me to give her an answer that no one else had been able to provide for her.

"I—I don't know," I replied.

"You know that most of the tribe doesn't even know about the pack, right?" I nodded. "But the whole tribe _does_ know that Sam dumped me for Emily. They think I can't hear the whispers—after all, I'm supposed to be able to hear just about as well as a normal human—but the general consensus is that I'm crazy and that's why Sam left. The worst part is, there's _evidence_ of how crazy I am. After all, I've been snapping everyone's heads off for the past eight years if they even look at me wrong. Everyone figures that Sam got sick of being treated like that, so he took off. I wasn't always like this though."

I wasn't sure what to say. I wasn't sure if I should say anything at all. I leaned forward, silently encouraging her to say whatever it was that she needed to.

"I used to be happy," she continued, momentarily setting her jaw forward in determination before her features slipped back to their former state once again. "I thought I always would be. One day, out of the blue, Sam tells me he can't see me anymore. Doesn't tell me why. Doesn't give me any explanation at all. I stayed up all night crying, and the next day, I found him traipsing around town with Emily on his arm. Of course, I didn't know anything about the wolves or imprinting back then. All I knew was that I'd cried so many tears for him, and he hadn't even spent _one second_ thinking about me before he moved on." She paused, checking to make sure I was still paying attention before continuing.

"Of course, it wasn't long after that when I phased myself, and I was suddenly privy to the details of what had _really_ happened to me. The guys thought I would be relieved. They figured as soon as I heard Sam's side of the story, I'd realize he never had a choice and just let go of all the animosity I had for him." Leah scoffed. "As if it made everything okay just because he hadn't had a _choice_. As if that fact made my feelings any different. As if he'd betrayed me any less after he claimed he wanted to spend his life with me."

I was beginning to realize that she really did know how I felt. Initially, I had foolishly believed that she couldn't possibly understand. I had been with Rosalie for eight decades. She and Sam had spent only a couple of years together. To me, it was a simple question of doing the math. Love doesn't understand math. I should have learned that lesson by now.

"I did finally have the true story though. That was something," Leah went on. "However, in exchange for that, I learned that I had to hear my former fiance's thoughts. And you know what he spends most of his time thinking about?" I winced. I was pretty sure I could guess. "Not only did I have to hear him droning on and on about her mentally, wondering what she was up to, wondering if she was all right, wishing he could get home to her, but I also had to relive his most intimate moments with her anytime his thoughts drifted. The pack hated me because I would never shut up and I never had anything good to say. Can you blame me? The more I talked and the more obnoxious I was, the less time I had to spend hearing about how great Emily was."

Maybe Leah even had it a little worse than I did. At least I didn't have to hear Rosalie's thoughts or watch her dote on another man as if he were the center of the entire universe. I'd barely had time to consider this when Leah started talking again.

"Jacob's always told me that vampires bond in pretty much the same way as imprinting. I just wanted to see for myself if you're as miserable as I am."

"Am I?" I asked, genuinely curious.

She regarded me carefully, considering the question. "You're pretty miserable," she answered noncommittally.

I laughed at that. "Well, I'm going to tell you the same thing someone wise said to me. You can't go back. Your path intersected with Sam's for a time, but now he's gone to a place where you cannot follow. Now you must choose a new path."

Leah tilted her head at me, apparently confused at the wisdom I was conveying. "Maybe I don't want to choose a new path," she murmured.

"Would you die here? An old woman, afraid to choose a path?" I asked.

Her eyes grew wide and her lips parted slightly as though her jaw had started to fly open just before she managed to stop it. "No," she gasped. "But I don't know how to move forward. I feel like he took my future with him."

"Yet you must," I told her, still repeating the dream-Leah's words and finding them extraordinarily applicable to both of our circumstances. "And so must I," I added.

Leah resumed staring into space. She was no longer swinging her legs. Although her position hadn't changed in the slightest, she seemed more upright than she had a few minutes before. It was as if something had been weighing her down and it was suddenly... Not gone, but lighter.

"Maybe it's time I tried. Really tried. Really gave someone a real chance. Well," she said awkwardly, "I've got to shower and get ready for work. Do you, um, need anything before I go?"

"I'm good," I answered. "Can you try to leave a little hot water for me though?"

Leah laughed, her smile touching her eyes for a change. "I don't really need the water to be hot, considering my body temperature. Tell you what, for listening to my story, I'll just take a cold shower and let you keep all the hot water. That work for you?"

I nodded. "It'll have to do," I told her in a solemn tone.

Leah laughed again. It was a sound I could get used to. I knew she wasn't going to be changing overnight, but the fact that she wanted to change made all the difference. She launched herself off the bed gracefully and moved to the bedroom door. She paused in the door frame and turned to face me once again. "Emmett... You're all right."

"You too, Leah."

She smiled weakly at me one last time before stepping out of view.

I wasn't sure whether I'd helped her or not, but she had certainly helped me. I saw what I would become if I didn't start trying to do what dream-Leah had told me. I had to choose a path. I could either continue trying to follow Rosalie down a road that was no longer open to me, or I could choose the unknown path. It might not be any better. Then again, it might be. There was only one way to find out, really. Rosalie had made her choice. It would take some time, and I certainly wasn't ready yet, but eventually, I had to find a way to open that other door.

**Note: No, the meadow from Emmett's dream is definitely _not_ Bella and Edward's meadow. Emmett's dream meadow, sadly, doesn't actually exist.**


	21. Complication

**Fun fact. I don't know if any of you watch Degrassi: The Next Generation, but I have always pictured Leah as the actress who plays Alex (Deanna Casaluce, if you want to look her up) rather than Julia Jones, the actress who actually portrays her in the movies. No disrespect intended toward Ms. Jones. Just thought I'd share a quick weird insight with you guys. =)**

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Twenty-One - Complication

I settled into a comfortable, if not quite happy pattern over the next few days. Leah was still a firecracker, but she was at least trying to be a little nicer to me. She and Seth tried to keep me company for at least an hour or so apiece each day, and Nessie would drop by after school, always with another armload of food. After a couple of days, I had to plead with the Clearwaters to help me eat it all. I didn't need to ask twice. Just when it started to seem like we might be able to make a dent in the food supply, Esme redoubled her efforts, sending Nessie over with twice as many plastic containers.

Seth taught me how to shave, which turned out to be just as dangerous with a modern razor as it was with the old-fashioned straight razors I had used in my day. Nessie was furious with me the first time. I had shaved only a couple of hours before she dropped by after school and she could still smell the fresh blood, which she insisted smelled delicious. After that, I had taken to shaving shortly after she left so that I'd be a little more healed before she came back again. For some reason, Leah found this necessity to be endlessly entertaining. She would stand behind me, making faces and heckling me every night while I tried to shave. In her own way, I supposed she was probably helping me. It forced me to focus harder on what I was doing.

As it turned out, Bella and Edward had given Nessie their blessing to go on a date with Josh Weber. It had been a difficult battle for her, but they had eventually relented, on two conditions. First, the pair should bring at least two other friends. Second, she would have to let the group meet Charlie, who was supposedly her guardian, before going out. Josh had been very enthusiastic and understanding about the conditions, and he had wasted no time in rounding up his brother and a friend of theirs to go along. Apparently, Charlie had grudgingly approved of the boy as well. I wasn't surprised; the Webers were good people through-and-through. The following day, Nessie gushed about how much fun she'd had and how much she was looking forward to seeing Josh again that weekend.

I called home every day too, to update Esme on my food preferences and speak to my brothers and sisters. Bella could never stop apologizing to me, no matter how many times I told her that I understood and that it wasn't her fault. She had deliberately swapped cars with Nessie for a few days so that she could become accustomed to my scent in the Rabbit, and she assured me that she would get over things soon. Edward had been coaching her on how to get past the temptation, and she had developed a newfound respect for his ability to be around her and to kiss her when he had been _this_ drawn to her scent.

The only one who was able to give me any information about Rosalie was Alice. Rose still hadn't returned home, and Alice said she still saw her living in the woods somewhere. She assured me that Rosalie looked to be fine, physically at least, and that she would let me know as soon as she saw her make a decision. Nevertheless, I worried about Rose constantly. Alice couldn't comment specifically on her mental state. When I would press her further about whether Rose looked happy, she would suddenly find some excuse to pass the phone off to Jasper or Esme. That didn't seem to me like a good sign.

If only I could find it in my heart to give her what she truly wanted, maybe everything could be all right. Still, no matter what she'd done and what had happened to me, I couldn't force myself to stop loving her. She was my soulmate, if I still had a soul. I'd never given a lot of thought to that particular topic, but I had certainly heard Carlisle and Edward debate it enough over the years to understand the controversy. Now, in the face of knowing that I would die sometime in the next few decades, I began to really wonder.

Could there ever be an afterlife for me? I'd lived as a vampire for eighty years. I'd killed a handful of humans, although I'd never set out to do it. They had all been "slip-ups." Nevertheless, I'd done it. I'd taken human lives. Surely that made me one of the hellbound, even if being a vampire didn't. I tried to put that thought out of my mind whenever it reared its head. I had plenty of time to worry about things like that, after all. For now, I should focus on more immediate concerns. The trouble was, I didn't really know what those concerns were.

I longed to be a productive member of society in some way, now that I no longer had to remain on the fringes of society, lurking in the shadows and pretending to be something I wasn't. Unfortunately, getting a job or going to college weren't really options for me until we could be certain that I didn't need the protection of the pack. No one could be certain of that fact until Aro's fate was decided. If the Volturi tracked him down, they would probably find out about me too. We had no idea whether or not Demetri would be able to track Aro as a human. Alice's visions hadn't worked on him until she'd learned that he was human. Chelsea's ties, on the other hand, seemed to hold up perfectly fine, as evidenced by Eleazar's continued concern for him. It seemed as if it was a toss-up whether Demetri would be able to track him or not.

Alice had been keeping an eye on Demetri in her visions, but thus far, he hadn't even been trying to track Aro. The entire guard had been busy trying to compensate for the loss of their _de facto_ leader. Many fights had erupted over who should take Aro's place as the third brother of the coven, but no decisions had been made. Alice kept getting flashes of different vampires occupying the third seat among the Volturi, or of no one occupying it at all. Until a decision was made, the entire guard was under strict orders to remain in Volterra. At this point, no one knew of Aro's disappearance, with the exception of my family, and the Volturi certainly didn't know about that specific leak. They planned to keep it that way until the new leadership structure had been determined.

In other words, the only thing I could do at the moment was wait and see.

Waiting and seeing had never been my style. Waiting and seeing was boring. I wanted to _do_ something, anything. Unfortunately, even once Alice knew what was coming, I would still be forced to sit on the sidelines and hear about the battle after the fact. I wasn't accustomed to being rendered useless, nor to feeling helpless.

In the absence of anything else productive to do, I had taken to keeping the Clearwaters' house clean. Leah had corrected my initial efforts, but once I was doing things up to her standards, she seemed pretty content with the arrangement. It gave her and Seth more time to sleep, at least. They still ran patrols every day, after all. It was harder work than I'd expected it to be, but at least I felt like I was doing something. I definitely didn't want to make a nuisance of myself like Aro had in the beginning.

Friday afternoon when Nessie dropped by, she talked excitedly about her plans with Josh that night. Bella and Edward wanted to meet the boy now that Nessie was going on her second date with him, and the two were going to be alone in Port Angeles. It was easy enough to explain: Bella was supposedly Nessie's cousin, after all, and it wasn't exactly uncommon knowledge in Forks that she had married Edward and moved in with the Cullens. As far as Josh ever needed to know, he was meeting Nessie's extended family. The biggest concern was the fact that she _did_, after all, bear a resemblance to Edward, but with a little luck, perhaps Josh wouldn't notice or would write it off as a coincidence.

"You have to be there, Emmett. You just have to!" Nessie pleaded.

"I don't know, Ness. I don't want to cause Bella any pain or anything."

"Ask Alice!" she begged.

"Alice won't be able to see if you're there," I reminded her.

"I've decided to stay on the opposite end of the room from Bella and stand very, very still," Nessie promised, scrunching her eyes shut. "There, my mind is made up, it's not going to change. Alice should be able to see around me as long as I commit to staying away from my mother. Now call and ask her!"

No sooner had the words left Nessie's mouth than my phone buzzed. I pulled it out of my pocket and read the screen.

_Bella will be fine. Edward will be helping her. He won't let anything happen to you, and __neither will any of the rest of us. I already told Esme you're coming. You can't disappoint her. See you soon! Love you!_

"Alice," I grumbled between my teeth. "Fine," I relented, not wanting to disappoint my mother. "I'll go with you. I don't know how I'm supposed to get home afterward though. Jacob had to order a part for my Jeep. He says he's sure it will be finished this weekend, but I've got no other choice than to ride with you to get there."

"Home from where?" Leah burst in the door.

"You're home early," I remarked.

Leah shrugged. "It's Friday. Sometimes they let us out early. Anyway, home from where?"

"Going with Nessie to meet her, um, friend." Nessie hadn't yet broken the news to Jacob. I told her that I was going to tell him myself if she didn't say something to him in the next week or so, but I wanted to give her time to find the best way to let him know. Considering that their relationship had yet to change to anything other than a close friendship, it wasn't precisely a betrayal, but he would still probably take the news pretty hard. Hearing it from Leah was definitely the _worst_ way I could imagine for him to learn of it though, so I decided it was best to keep the details to myself.

"Where?" Leah demanded. Nessie rolled her eyes, but I knew that Leah was just trying to make sure I was all right.

"To my family's house," I replied calmly.

"_What_?" Leah shrieked. "You can't go there! Bella will kill you!"

"She won't," I assured her. "Alice said it will be fine. I'm just trying to figure out how to get home."

"If you're so intent on going, I'm going with you," Leah announced. Well, it actually wasn't such a bad plan. At least I'd have a ride home.

My phone buzzed again.

_Tonight just disappeared. Do you know anything about that?_

I sighed, sending Alice a return text. _Leah is coming. She wants to keep an eye on me. Probably on Josh too. _

I didn't bother putting my phone away. I just held it in my hand until it buzzed again a few seconds later.

_That explains it. Well, I can see Bella tomorrow, and her eyes are still gold. _

That would have to do. Nessie squealed with delight, throwing her arms around my neck. She grabbed my arm excitedly and dragged me outside into her car before I had time to react.

"I'll be right behind you," Leah promised, climbing onto her motorcycle. Apparently, she'd taken a spin on Jacob's motorcycle a few times and decided that she needed one of her own. It suited her, I decided. She grabbed up the rarely-used helmet and placed it onto her head. _She_ wasn't likely to sustain serious injuries in the event of a crash, but I would need the helmet for the return trip. I shuddered slightly at the thought of the trip back. I didn't have a problem with motorcycles. I had a problem with riding on the back. I knew Leah would slug me if she had even the faintest idea that I felt that way, so I resolved to keep my mouth shut on that particular point.

The trip to my family's house was uneventful. Nessie and I made small talk, and I reminded her that she needed to tell Jacob about Josh soon. She promised that she would tell him this weekend, which satisfied me. Kid had a right to know.

When we arrived, there was an unfamiliar car out front. Looked like Josh had beaten us. Nessie sprinted out of the car at the top speed that would have been remotely believable for a human girl and burst into the house. I trailed a short distance behind her, lingering outside and chuckling to myself at her display of nerves. I heard Leah's motorcycle pull up a second later. I waited patiently for Leah, knowing she would tear my head off if I went inside without my wolf escort.

"Emmett!" Alice pounced on me before I was even entirely through the door. If Leah hadn't been standing behind me, I was fairly sure she might have knocked me over. "We miss you so, so, so much," she continued, ignoring the evil glare that Leah was aiming at her.

"Hey Alice," I grinned. "Miss you guys too."

Jasper was next in line, giving me an awkward one-armed man-hug and wincing at my anguish. "I hope we can get you home soon," he said, pulling backward. "Edward cheats at games, and Aro squeals like a little girl every time something starts to attack him."

Carlisle shook my hand warmly, figuratively at least, since his hands were ice-cold. Esme was the worst of all. She gripped me tightly, spilling out a series of questions about the food she'd prepared before I even had time to say hello. Even Aro was pleased to see me. He appeared to have been dressed by Alice, probably so Josh wouldn't think he was quite so strange. At least she'd gotten that womens' bottom-enhancing underwear away from him. I hoped she'd burned it.

Bella and Edward were seated on the couch, with Bella pressed as firmly against Edward's body as she could possibly be. She clenched her hands in her lap, Edward's arm clutching her. His lips were moving, but I couldn't hear any sound. I could only assume he was whispering reassuringly to her. She flashed me an apologetic smile, and I nodded to her in return. "Hey Bella, Edward. Good to see you both."

"It's good to see you too," Edward replied for both of them. Bella was likely trying to breathe as little as possible and didn't want to waste her air on speaking.

Standing just in front of them, oblivious to the mortal danger his life would be in if Bella lost control, was a teenaged boy I didn't recognize. He had dark brown hair that was cropped close enough to nearly be suitable for joining the army. The boy wore a dark blue button-down shirt and khakis, both of which looked to have been meticulously pressed that morning. His face was either meticulously groomed, or he wasn't quite old enough to need to shave yet. My human eyes couldn't tell which it was. Either he really wanted to impress the family, or I could see why Nessie, Junior Queen of Fashion, had taken such a shine to him. Nessie beckoned him to where we stood, intent on keeping her promise to Alice.

"Everyone, this is Josh Weber. Josh, this is my cousin Bella," Nessie lied smoothly, pointing out her mother. "Next to her is her husband Edward. These are his parents, Carlisle and Esme, his sister Alice, and his brothers Jasper and Emmett—Emmett recently had to move away for his job, which is why everyone is so happy to see him. Over there are Aro and Leah. They're friends of the family." I waited for Leah's indignant snort at being referred to as a "family friend," but it never came. I guessed she was really trying to be on her best behavior.

Then I caught the way Nessie was looking at her. Had she made a sound that was too quiet for me to hear? "Leah, _no_!" Nessie half-shrieked. "You can_not_!"

I knew it would be safer to stay behind Leah, but I had to see what exactly was going on. I slowly inched my way around her, keeping close to Jasper in the unlikely event that Bella would somehow break free from Edward. Once I had moved around to the proper angle, I could clearly see what Nessie was reacting to. Leah was staring at Josh strangely. Not quite like a woman seeing a sun for the first time, but...

Without taking her eyes off Josh, Leah shook her head slowly from side to side. "I don't think I am," she replied. "But, there's something... Something about him... I don't know what it is."

"Ness? What's going on?" Josh asked innocently. A fair question. To an outsider, it would look pretty strange for a bunch of people to be contemplating whether or not someone had imprinted on Nessie's date.

"Leah has trouble sometimes with her vision," Nessie said, continuing to shoot daggers at Leah with her eyes. "I was just reminding her that she can't drive home when it happens."

Josh frowned, furrowing his brow in an expression of clear confusion. Nessie's lie hadn't quite covered all of the tracks, after all. There was still the matter of Leah's reaction to Nessie's outburst. Before Josh had time to press the issue, I suddenly felt very calm and understanding. I glanced at Jasper, who winked at me in confirmation that he was in control of the situation.

"Okay, good idea. Safety first," Josh said, his eyes slightly unfocused from the calmness overtaking his body.

Bella pursed her lips. She looked like she wanted to say something, but I knew she was focusing too hard on not racing across the room to kill me. She looked helplessly at Edward, who cleared his throat.

"I know we invited you over because we wanted to spend a little time with you, Josh, but in light of Leah's... condition, perhaps it would be best of you three were on your way so that we can look after her. I'm terribly sorry for our lack of hospitality. Would you mind dropping by to visit at a later date so that we can converse properly?"

"Three?" I asked, confused.

"My brother Isaac is going with us too. He had to use the restroom. As soon as he comes back downstairs, if he ever finds his way in this huge house," Josh paused to laugh nervously, "we can all go."

I wondered if the Weber twins normally went on one another's dates, but I realized that Josh's brother was probably tagging along because of "Charlie's" earlier requirement that Nessie shouldn't be alone with Josh on a date. Edward bent his head down slightly and scratched the top of his head with his index finger, then raised it again. I recognized the gesture as one of his surreptitious nods and smiled. God, how was it possible that I had actually missed Edward answering all of my unspoken questions?

I soon heard the noisy, clunky footsteps that could only belong to a teenaged boy making their way across the upstairs hallway. Leah still hadn't taken her eyes off of Josh, but since he believed she had gone temporarily blind, he didn't seem particularly fazed by it. Another boy descended the stairs, his facial features identical to Josh, but the style of his hair and clothing were very different. While Josh was practically the dictionary definition of "clean cut," Isaac looked like he probably held band practices in his parents' garage. His hair was shaggy around his face, giving the general appearance of having just rolled out of bed. He wore jeans that didn't appear to have been washed anytime in the past year and a black hooded sweatshirt. Now I could definitely tell that Josh was a meticulous shaver. Isaac had about a weeks' worth of hair growth on his face.

"Ready, Isaac?" Josh asked, jingling his car keys at his twin.

"We're leaving already? But we just got here," Isaac answered.

At the sound of his voice, Leah reluctantly turned away from Josh momentarily to make sure the room's latest addition wasn't any sort of threat to my safety. I expected her to turn her gaze back to Josh immediately, but instead, she gaped openly at Isaac. In comparison to her new expression of enthrallment, the way she had regarded Josh a moment ago seemed almost like contempt. She looked like a person who had just found religion, and the young man she was regarding was God himself. Her muscles relaxed, and all of the tension suddenly faded from her body. Jasper was gaping at her, having realized just slightly before the rest of us what was going on. He had felt this emotion once before.

"Okay," she announced, still refusing to tear her eyes off of Isaac. "_Now_ I imprinted."


	22. Imprint

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Twenty-Two - Imprint

No one was willing to speak after Leah's declaration. What was there to say? This was a definite complication. The rules with regard to silence didn't apply to imprintees. Leah could fill Isaac in on everything, including our—my family's—nature, and the treaty wouldn't be broken. To be fair, she didn't seem particularly interested in filling Isaac in on anything. In fact, she didn't seem particularly interested in doing anything other than staring at his face with a look of quiet awe.

"Umm..." Isaac murmured to his brother out of the corner of his mouth, "Who is that?"

Nessie pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger, something she'd learned from watching Edward over the years. "Isaac Weber, Leah Clearwater. Leah, Isaac," she introduced them to one another.

Leah stepped forward with stars in her eyes. She offered Isaac her right hand. "Hello Isaac. I'm so pleased to meet you."

Isaac stared at her hand for a moment as if he were afraid it might leap up and rip out his eyes of its own accord. After a long moment, he finally reached to hesitantly shake Leah's hand. The moment their hands touched, a look of pure bliss overtook Leah's face, and she giggled like a schoolgirl.

My eyes darted around the room, waiting for the house to suddenly turn into a gigantic hallway or a belfry or an old western saloon. I had to be dreaming. Leah Clearwater had just giggled. That was not in the realm of things that were possible in the real world.

The house didn't change. No one else moved, grew a second head, turned into a giant slug, or did anything remotely out of the ordinary. Everyone looked just as shocked as I was, except for the poor Weber twins, who just looked completely baffled. Quite a normal reaction, really, all things considered. Was this truly happening? Was I really awake?

Leah continued to gaze at Isaac with a dreamy expression on her face while Josh cleared his throat. "So, Ness, are we going to head on to Port Angeles?"

Nessie sighed. "No, Josh, I don't think so."

"I don't understand," Josh's expression was a mixture of confusion and hurt. "I thought..." His voice trailed off as he tried to figure out why the girl he'd been looking so forward to taking on a date was suddenly changing her mind at the last possible minute while he was standing in the home of her family.

"Um, Ms. Clearwater—" Isaac began.

"Leah," she interrupted him.

"Okay. Leah. May I please have my hand back?" Isaac asked politely. Apparently, his parents had brought him up to be as well-mannered as Angela, despite his overall appearance of being slightly rebellious. The instant the words were out of his mouth, Leah's hand moved away in a flash, leaving Isaac's hand to fall limply to his side and swing back and forth from the force of being dropped so abruptly.

"Um, thank you," Isaac said sheepishly.

"You're quite welcome. Can I get you anything? Coffee? Soda? Tea? Water? Lemonade? A sandwich? Cookies? Anything you like. If it's not in the house, I'll make it. If the ingredients aren't in the house, I'll rush right out and get them." Leah sure knew how to come on strong. Jasper and Alice were looking purposefully in opposite directions. I was certain that if they looked at one another, they would burst into hysterical laughter at Leah's display of complete submissiveness.

"Err, no thanks, I'm all right. Although..."

"Yes? Something I can do for you?" Leah was literally bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet in her eagerness to please.

"Well... You can explain to me what exactly is going on. That is, if you don't mind," Isaac seemed to remember his manners at the last moment. One could hardly blame him for temporarily forgetting them.

"Oh, of course. You see—" Leah began.

"Leah," Carlisle interrupted her. "I'm not certain if this is the time for that."

Leah reluctantly tore her eyes from Isaac's face long enough to give Carlisle a puzzled expression. "Why not? He wants to know."

Nessie answered before either Carlisle or Leah had an opportunity to speak again. She did not look the slightest bit pleased as she spoke. "Quileute tradition has an exemption clause for twins of imprints. It was determined generations ago to be fruitless to expect an imprint to keep the secrets from her—or in this case, his—twin. Jacob explained it to me a long time ago."

It was Carlisle's turn to be puzzled. "Why would traditions specifically mention twins? Are they very common among the Quileutes?"

"They run in the Black family," Nessie explained. "For example, Jacob's sisters Rachel and Rebecca are twins. Rachel has every right to tell Rebecca everything as a matter of tradition, but she's chosen not to because Rebecca was never very interested in the tribe and its customs. If she ever decides to return home for an extended stay, Rachel will fill her in. Anyway, it was historically very common for one of the twins to be imprinted on, since their bloodline is so powerful. Since twins share a stronger bond than other siblings, an exception had to be made." Nessie looked as if she'd rather be doing anything on Earth other than reciting this information.

"Pardon me, but... What exactly are all of you talking about?" Josh asked. He looked slightly frightened as his eyes swept the room. He seemed to realize that he was vastly outnumbered if it came to a fight, and he looked particularly terrified of me. Funny, under normal circumstances I would have agreed with him, but as it stood currently, I was actually one of the few people the two of them would stand a chance against. At the moment, Bella was actually the most terrifying one in the room, since my scent could make her snap at any moment.

"Bella?" I whispered, knowing that she would hear me. "Are you still doing okay? Do I need to leave for awhile?" Still unwilling to breathe, Bella flashed me a "thumbs-up," which did little to relieve my anxiety.

Bella and Edward moved to stand near the door in case Bella needed to make a quick exit, while those of us who needed to rest moved to occupy the seats in the living room. Aro quickly pulled his snuggie up over himself, earning a strange look from Isaac and an exasperated sigh from Alice. Esme flitted into the kitchen, humming peacefully to herself as she set about preparing a much larger dinner than she would have made for Aro alone. Despite all the turmoil, I was a little excited about the prospect of eating one of her meals while it was still fresh rather than being reheated from the freezer. It was hard to believe that only days before, I had found the smell of human food to be disgusting.

"Isaac, Josh, neither one of you has a heart condition, do you?" Leah eyed the twins carefully. From what Seth had told me, the general consensus was that the shock of seeing Leah phase had been what gave her father his fatal heart attack. Obviously, he must not have had much time left anyway, but nevertheless, she'd never quite been able to get past the likelihood that she may have been the catalyst for her father's death.

"N-no," Josh stammered. "You're not going to run experiments on us or something are you?"

Leah moved out to the empty space in the dead center of the room. I realized what she was about to do and ducked my head, laughing prematurely at the reaction that the boys were sure to have. Leah shut me up with a cold glare. Apparently, she _was_ still capable of that expression.

"Leah, are you fond of that outfit?" Alice asked sweetly.

"Oh, actually I am," Leah realized. "Do you have any old clothes around here that you don't mind destroying?"

"Follow me." Leah obediently followed Alice up the stairs, calling to Isaac that she would be right back.

"Is someone going to tell us what's going on?" Josh asked, turning to each one of us.

"Don't worry. In a few minutes, you'll wish you still didn't know," I said. Josh didn't look particularly reassured by that. "Remember to breathe," I added, further amplifying the boys' horror.

Leah returned moments later wearing a dark blue dress with her work clothes slung over her arm. Any other time, the sight of Leah in a dress would have been hysterical on its own, but on this occasion, it was overshadowed by the way she was skipping down the stairs. Instead of phasing right away as she had originally intended to do though, Leah sat on the couch between Josh and Isaac, to their apparent discomfort. Alice must have taken the opportunity to talk sense into her.

"Isaac, as you may have guessed, I'm from the Quileute reservation up at La Push," Leah began. He nodded, having already come to that conclusion on his own. "I'm sure you don't know much of the legends of our tribe; they're not generally shared with outsiders. However, the Quileutes are descended from wolves." Josh put a hand over his mouth in an effort to politely conceal his disbelieving smile. Isaac, on the other hand, seemed enthralled with Leah's tale.

For the next half hour, Leah told the story of The Cold Ones and the wolf protectors. The legend had been passed down from generation to generation, never being told to anyone whose blood was not Quileute. I was certain if my family had not been the very same Cold Ones from the tale, we would be forbidden to hear it. As it was, I felt strangely honored to be let in on the tribe's secrets, even though I had personally been one of the Cold Ones who had forged a treaty with the great-grandfathers of Jacob Black, Sam Uley, and Quil Atera.

"...And magic runs in our blood still," Leah finished.

Josh stifled a yawn, but Isaac was plainly fascinated by what he'd heard. "Do you believe the stories are true?" he asked.

Leah laughed. "I know the stories are true," she replied, "because the magic runs in _my_ blood."

"Leah," Josh spoke up, "please believe that I mean no disrespect to your culture. You're obviously a remarkable storyteller. But those are just old legends. They have no bearing on reality."

Leah rose gracefully to her feet and moved once more to the center of the living room. This time, Alice didn't stop her. She made certain that Josh and Isaac were both watching her, and then her body exploded into a mass of grey fur.

I wished I'd had a camera with me to take a picture of the twins' faces.

Surprisingly, neither one of the screamed or scrambled away, although Josh did suddenly grip Nessie's arm rather tightly. "It's all right," she assured him. "Leah won't hurt you."

"Leah?" Isaac bravely leaned forward and extended his hand. Seeing what he wanted, Leah gladly stepped forward and allowed him to touch her fur. He scratched behind her ears just as one would do with a normal dog, and the serenity on Leah's face was obvious.

"Okay Leah, you ready to change back?" Alice asked, holding Leah's work clothes and a large blanket. The wolf nodded its head and Alice held up the blanket as a shield between Leah and the rest of us. She shifted back to human form and pulled her clothes back on again before Alice dropped the blanket. Leah returned to her previous seat between Josh and Isaac. Josh was even more wary of her presence than before, but Isaac was captivated.

"So you can turn into a giant wolf. Nessie, did you know about this?" Isaac asked.

"I did," Nessie confirmed.

"You _all_ knew about this?" Isaac asked while Josh remained silent.

I nodded, glancing around to see the others doing the same.

"I thought people outside of your tribe didn't know the legends? That's what you said, isn't it?" Isaac asked.

"That's true," Leah told him.

"Then how come you told us?"

"Because I imprinted on you."

"Imprinted?" Isaac was confused. "You used that word earlier too." He examined the skin on his hands, apparently looking for some kind of indentation. I couldn't help laughing.

"No, no," Leah corrected him gently. "Imprinting is sort of a mental, emotional, and spiritual connection."

"So you have a mystical connection with me? But I only just met you," Isaac reasoned.

"That's the way it works," Leah explained. "To think, after I gave Jacob and Quil so much grief for imprinting on little kids..."

"I'm 16!" Isaac protested. He snapped his jaw shut, apparently realizing that he had just protested that he was perfectly eligible to be imprinted on when he still wasn't sure he wanted to be an imprintee.

"Still a minor," Leah said. "But no matter. We'll just be the best of friends until you're finished with college. I can be your mentor. I can help you study. I can do whatever it is you need me to do. I want you to have a normal life. The kind of life I never got to have. It doesn't have to be romantic unless you want it to be, and even if you _do_ want it to be, I must insist that you focus on your studies first."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, sorry, back up a second there. Romantic?" Isaac's features were a mixture of shock and fear.

"Well, yes, our relationship will likely turn that way eventually, but not until you want it to. Just ask Ness—"

"Leah!" Nessie interrupted.

Josh turned to Nessie in shock, jerking his hand away from where he'd continued to grip her arm ever since Leah phased. "Y-you're a giant wolf _too_?" he gasped.

"I can explain..." Nessie started.

"Nessie can't be a wolf. She's not even Quileute. She's Bella's cousin. You can see the resemblance," Isaac said.

"Actually, she's Bella's daughter," Leah corrected.

Both boys' eyes snapped to Nessie, then to Bella and back again. "They're practically the same age!" Josh protested.

"Bella went to school with our sister," Isaac added. "I think Angela would have mentioned if Bella had a daughter, especially one she would have had when she was nine years old."

"Bella was eighteen when she had Nessie," Leah answered. "She turned nineteen a few days after Nessie was born." Apparently, she would still only respond to Isaac's remarks and not to Josh's.

"That's not possible," Josh stated. "Angela's 26. Bella's the same age as her. Nessie's obviously older than seven."

Leah continued to gaze at Isaac, a content smile on her lips.

"Nessie? You _are_ older than seven, aren't you?" Josh asked.

"Physically or chronologically?" Nessie answered sheepishly.

"What's the difference?" Isaac wondered.

Since Isaac had asked the question, Leah answered without hesitation. "Well, you see, for example, I'm physically frozen at 17, at least until such time that I stop being a wolf. Chronologically, I'm 24."

"You look older than 17," Josh remarked. Leah ignored him.

"The wolf transformation kind of does that," Nessie explained. "They all looked older than their physical ages for awhile, but eventually they sort of caught up.

"_All_?" Isaac asked incredulously.

"How many are there?" Josh questioned.

"Five in Leah's pack," Nessie answered. "Umm, about a dozen more in the other pack."

"They run in _packs_? So is that what you guys are? Leah's pack?" Josh asked.

"They can't be," Isaac repeated, "they're not Quileute, and this is well outside of La Push, right Leah?"

Leah snorted. "They're definitely not part of my pack."

I stiffened involuntarily. It was coming any second now.

"Then what..." Josh began.

"Isn't it obvious? Only the pack and imprints are allowed to know. They must all be imprints," Isaac reasoned. It was a pretty good guess, I supposed.

"Does that mean you're going to look like them? They all look the same, except Emmett, Aro, and Nessie. Even Nessie looks a little like the others." Josh was too observant for his own good.

Leah snarled, for once responding to Josh's remarks. "Over my dead body will Isaac ever look like them."

Josh shifted uncomfortably in his seat, leaning almost imperceptibly away from Nessie. She noticed it too, of course. A dark cloud was passing over her features, and she looked like she'd be perfectly happy to tear Leah to shreds on the spot.

"But they _are_ imprints, right? If they aren't wolves, what else could they be?" Isaac asked.

There it was.

"Vampires," Leah answered simply.

I had expected Josh to yelp and run across the room. Instead, he stared at Leah with mild amusement before throwing back his head and laughing. "Vampires? As in drinking blood, sleeping in coffins, being burned by the sun?"

"There was a crucifix upstairs," Isaac added helpfully. "And I smell garlic in whatever Esme is making. Plus, Nessie goes out in the sun all the time."

"They don't get burned by the sun, they glimmer. They don't sleep. Crucifixes and garlic don't bother them. They do drink blood though," Leah answered.

Both boys were silent for several moments, studying the faces of the others for any hints that this was an elaborate joke. They had already seen Leah transform into a giant wolf, which certainly lent credibility to her tale.

"Nessie doesn't glimmer," Josh said stubbornly. "Her skin sort of glows a little, but it doesn't _glimmer_."

Leah looked at Isaac expectantly, and he inclined his head to indicate that she should address Josh's remarks. "That's because Nessie's only _half_ vampire," she replied obediently. "Remember, I told you Bella was her mother. She was still human at the time."

"Wait, so the others were all vampires when they went to school with Angela?" Isaac was horrified.

Leah laughed. "They've all been vampires a lot longer than that."

"But they didn't hurt Angela," Isaac reasoned.

"And Edward dated Bella while she was still human," Josh added, easing himself back toward Nessie again, much to her relief.

"So how old _are_ all of you? Chronologically, I guess," Isaac asked.

We all looked nervously at one another, afraid to speak. "There's quite a range of ages," I spoke up.

"Who's the oldest?" Josh asked.

"That would be me," Aro said. "I am over three thousand years old."

Isaac scrutinized him for any signs of fabrication. "You look pretty human," he declared at last.

"Oh, I am now. So is Emmett. We were vampires, but now we're human." Aro blurted out his words as though he were explaining to a child the difference between a cat and a dog.

"So, wait... You used to be human, then you became vampires, and now you're human? Can you just go back and forth whenever you want?" Josh asked.

"No, we only learned a few weeks ago that it was possible to become human again," I answered. "Unfortunately, the process is terrible and it's also impossible to control."

Isaac pursed his lips. "Nessie never exactly answered. How old is she? Chronologically." By now, he'd figured out that Leah would always answer his questions.

"Seven," Leah replied. "Physically, she's about eighteen."

"_Seven_?" Josh cried out. "But I'm... But that's... Nessie!"

"I don't understand what the big deal is. She's allowed to have friends," Leah remarked.

"But we're _dating_," Josh replied.

Leah's head snapped around so quickly it looked like it might pop off if she tilted it in one direction or another. "_Dating_? Does Jacob know about this?"

Nessie sighed. "Not yet. I was going to tell him this weekend."

"Who's Jacob?" Josh demanded.

"He's sort of... My wolf," Nessie answered, embarrassed..

"And you're cheating on him!" Leah accused.

"No I'm not!" Nessie defended herself. "I _never_ told Jacob I was ready for a relationship with him. I want to have as much of a normal life as I can before I make any decisions like that. He's supposed to want me to be happy, right?"

"Not by lying to him!" Leah hissed. She was starting to shake. Without giving it much thought, I grabbed Josh with one arm and Isaac with the other and hauled them to safety. Unfortunately, in the process of this, I forgot that "safety" for the two of them meant "standing right on top of the woman who wants to drink your blood" for me.

"You are _just_ like your mother, toying with Jacob as long as it serves your purpose!" Leah shouted.

Bella involuntarily gasped at the accusation, and when she did so, sucked in a noseful of air. Air that had my scent. I was inches away from her, trying to keep Josh and Isaac away from Leah.

Bella lunged for me. Alice shoved her way in front of the twins and me. She gripped Bella by the shoulders while Edward continued to keep a tight hold around her waist. "Bella, Bella, Bella," Alice chanted frantically. "Remember who you are. Remember who Emmett is. You don't want to hurt Emmett. Bella, stay calm. Bella, shhh."

"Hold your breath," Edward added. I felt like I was watching the scene from outside my body. On one side of me, a werewolf and a half-vampire were about to get into a catfight. On the other side of me, two vampires were working to restrain a crazed vampire from drinking my blood. Either way, I didn't see how I was walking out of here alive.

"I think the remote control is broken!" Aro called out, apparently oblivious to the chaos that had erupted around him. "It won't change the channel anymore!"

"The battery's probably dead," Isaac answered helpfully.

"Leah, I _promise_ I will tell him tomorrow," Nessie pleaded.

"Bella, hold your breath, it'll be okay. You don't want to hurt Emmett," Alice kept repeating.

A buzzer started going off. "That would be the casserole," Esme murmured.

"Why do I suddenly feel so calm?" Josh asked. "Shouldn't I be in a state of panic?"

"Oh, dear me, that probably is it. How do you change this thing?" Aro was staring at the remote trying to will it to open up.

"Jacob doesn't deserve this kind of treatment!" Leah shouted.

"Bella, love, come outside with me," Edward said softly.

"Do you want me to show you?" Isaac asked Aro.

"I wouldn't go in there just now," Carlisle put a hand on Isaac's shoulder.

"Jacob wants me to be happy!" Nessie retorted.

"Bella, let's all go for a run," Alice pleaded.

"Why... won't... this... thing... open?" Aro grunted, banging the remote against the coffee table.

"If Isaac wanted to date somebody else, you'd let him, wouldn't you?" Nessie was continuing.

"I feel... I feel like running," Bella mumbled.

I felt like running too. "Thanks, Jasper."

"Dinner's ready!" Esme called out.

"Sure, if he _talked _to me about it!" Leah shouted.

"Good, let's run!" Alice bounced up and down excitedly.

"Wait, I have to ask you for permission to date other women? That doesn't seem fair. I just met you today!" Isaac protested.

"I will, Leah, I promise I will. Please Leah. Please just give me until tomorrow. Please." Nessie begged.

"I got it open! I think I broke the back of it though," Aro informed everyone triumphantly.

"We'll be back," Edward assured us, pulling Bella out the front door with Alice on their heels.

"Fine," Leah allowed. "So help me though, if you don't tell him tomorrow..."

"I will. I swear I will. Tomorrow." Nessie breathed a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, all was silent. Josh and Isaac were staring at each other, trying to figure out what had just happened.

I cleared my throat. "I'll um... I'll get some batteries. And some duct tape."


	23. News

**Thanks so, so, so much for hanging in there so far, and for the reviews! I know I've been keeping you on the line wondering what happened to Rosalie. We'll be hearing from her soon, I promise!**

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Twenty-Three - News

While Edward, Bella, and Alice were out on their run, the six of us who ate food took seats around the table and continued our conversation. To be honest, I thought Josh and Isaac were handling things fairly well, all things considered. Bella might have handled it a little better back in her day, but to be fair, she had only been introduced to one type of mythical creature at a time. Josh was even willing to continue dating Nessie, once he learned that my family lived off of animal blood and Nessie typically abstained altogether, eating human food instead.

"It doesn't seem all that different from dating a normal human girl, really," Josh remarked.

"Yes, a normal human girl who is faster than you, stronger than you, and can project her thoughts directly into your mind," Aro piped up. How exactly did he have such a knack for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time?

"Project your... What?" Josh was incredulous.

"Uhh, well, some of us have special gifts," Nessie explained, embarrassed.

"What kind of special gifts?" Isaac asked.

Naturally, Leah replied to Isaac's question. "Nessie can project her own memories and feelings to anyone she physically touches. By the way, her real name is Renesmee Cullen, not Vanessa Swan. Also, Jasper can manipulate emotions, Alice can see the future, Bella can shield herself and others from mental abilities of other vampires, and Edward can read minds."

"Edward can _read minds_? But he's Nessie's father!" Josh exclaimed in horror.

"Alice can see the future? Why didn't she seem to know this was going to happen?" Isaac asked.

"She can only see certain things, when someone has made a decision. She also can't see Nessie's future, but she can see around her fairly well. She can't see around any of us wolves at all." Leah ignored Josh's concern and addressed Isaac's, naturally.

"Edward is pretty discreet," Nessie said lamely.

"You call your parents Edward and Bella?" Isaac asked.

"Wait," I interjected before Leah or Nessie had a chance to answer. "So you find out Leah turns into a giant wolf who is basically betrothed to you the minute she meets you, that my family is a bunch of vampires, that Nessie is a half vampire, that Aro and I _used_ to be vampires and Aro is three thousand years old, that five of them can do things like seeing the future and reading minds, and you still have enough space in your head to be amazed that Nessie calls her parents by their first names?"

Isaac paused, considering. "Well it's weird! Why doesn't she call them Mom and Dad like normal people?"

I just shook my head in amazement and wandered back to the couch, having finished dinner. Nessie and Leah could handle the rest of the questions on their own. Jasper was milling over in that direction trying to avoid the tension from the twins.

"So what have I missed this past week?" I asked.

"Same old, same old," Jasper replied. "Edward brooding over nothing, Bella worrying about things, Esme trying to smooth over nonexistent disasters, Alice shopping nonstop, Carlisle throwing himself into his latest research project, Aro watching television. You know, the usual."

I barely had time to chuckle before my other brother and two sisters returned. The three of them looked pretty serious. Was this all just because Bella had tried to kill me? Really, it was no different from the time Jasper had tried to kill her. I could get over it.

Had I really just said that I could get over somebody trying to kill me? Here I was accusing the twins of being strange.

"Aro," Edward approached the table solemnly and sat beside the person he addressed. "We have some news for you which may be potentially upsetting."

Aro had finished eating and was lingering behind to listen to the conversation between Nessie, Leah, and the twins. He found it fascinating for some reason. He turned his attention to Edward. "Yes?"

Bella was practically burrowed into Edward's side once more in an effort to avoid a second incident. She couldn't seem to bring herself to look at me at this point. She was gnawing on her lip with such force that she might actually injure herself. What did any of this have to do with Aro though?

Alice took a deep breath. "Aro, while the three of us were away from the house, I had a vision."

Now she had my attention, along with everyone else's. "Is this what you meant about seeing the future?" Isaac asked Leah. She nodded in confirmation, waiting with the rest of us to hear the contents of Alice's latest vision.

"As you know," Alice continued, "I have been watching Volterra closely so that we would have warning if anyone decided to come looking for you. A decision was made."

My stomach churned and I felt my heart sink. This didn't sound good. Still, I was careful not to move closer to the discussion, for fear that proximity to Bella would endanger not only my own life, but also those of the other humans present.

"What was the decision?" Aro asked reluctantly. From the next room I could see the color draining from his face, even with imperfect eyesight.

"Marcus made a decision," Alice told him carefully. "He's decided to go out on his own. Now that he knows the truth, he doesn't want to be a part of the Volturi any longer. He doesn't blame you alone for what happened; he blames the entire concept of being a ruler and an enforcer. He feels that if he hadn't been in that position in the first place, Didyme would never have died."

"What are they talking about?" Isaac whispered loudly.

"I'm not completely sure," Leah answered. "I only know so much about the leeches in Italy. I'll find out as soon as I can though."

Josh shushed them both and leaned forward, listening attentively in spite of the fact that he was largely lacking the context of the discussion. Alice appeared to be somewhat grateful that she hadn't been forced to personally to issue the order to quiet down.

"Well," Aro replied thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "There were many avenues Marcus could have chosen. I would have expected him to demand for his life to be ended, but I am pleased that he has decided to live on instead. He obviously spent a great deal of time making his choice."

"There's more," Alice murmured reluctantly. "Sulpicia has decided to leave with him."

Aro was silent for what felt to me like hours, but it was most likely only a minute or so. His features contorted in pain for a time, but he shut his eyes and forced himself to breathe in a steady pattern.

"Do you know where they will go?" Aro whispered.

Alice shook her head sadly. "They haven't decided that yet. They're not mates," she added quickly. "They both simply feel that there is no place for them in Volterra any longer, and they believe they should stick together for awhile, since they know no other way of life."

Aro bobbed his head up and down a few times. He could have been nodding in acknowledgment, keeping time to music in his own head, or praying. It was impossible to say which. At last, he spoke again. "That is probably a wise decision for the both of them. I hope that they will both find some measure of happiness. Thank you, Alice."

So Sulpicia was moving on and embracing a new life for herself. I could only assume Rosalie was doing the same. I wished with all my heart that I could find a way to do the same. Even Leah had finally moved on. Granted, there had been extenuating circumstances, but that did nothing to diminish the fact that she was no longer in anguish over losing Sam. I knew I was expecting far too much from myself. After all, Rosalie and I had been together for eight decades and apart for less than a week. Still, there was no hope of reconciliation. It was really over. The fact that I was a flesh-and-blood human was evidence enough of that. Maybe I needed to push myself a little.

Josh interrupted my musing. "No offense to any of you, but I really would like to get home. I've just learned so many unexpected things today that I'd like to lie down for awhile and get some sleep while I wait for it to all sink in." Isaac nodded in silent agreement. He was taking the news a little better than Josh was, but he did still seem a little put off by the entire situation. The twins rose, Leah and Nessie following them out to their car to bid them goodnight.

"I guess I'd better get going too," I remarked. "I doubt Leah's going to want to hang around any longer, and seeing as she's my ride..."

Esme was instantly at my side to hug me. "It was so good to see you again, dear. I hope you'll be able to visit again soon."

"I will, Mom," I promised. I said my parting words to everyone, pausing to assure Bella that I wasn't upset with her at all.

By the time I made my way outside, the boys had already left. I assumed they just wanted to hurry up and get away from here in the hopes that they'd wake up in the morning and the entire night would have all been a dream. I felt badly for them. They would have to sort this out all over again. It was no small thing to be told that vampires and werewolves were real and lived in your hometown.

I had guessed accurately about Leah as well. As soon as I stepped outside, she gestured to her motorcycle. I followed and reluctantly climbed on behind her, putting on the helmet when she passed it to me. "We need to get going anyway," she informed me. "Pack meeting in the morning."

I had learned shortly after moving to La Push that the packs held a meeting every Saturday to work out their patrol schedules and discuss anything as a group that might not have spread to both packs yet. It had never before been necessary in Quileute history for pack meetings to be held. Information was typically shared via the mental link. However, since there were two packs for the first time, Sam and Jacob had decided several years before that it would be in everyone's best interest to hold meetings on a weekly basis. Important information, such as the scent of a vampire near their borders, was shared through more urgent channels, but the weekly meetings were still useful.

"I don't know what the topic of the day was _supposed _to be, but I guess now it'll be that wolf-girls can imprint," Leah grumbled just before starting up the bike.

"So everyone from both packs has to attend these things?" I asked. Fortunately, since Leah had better than normal hearing, I didn't have to shout over the noise of the motorcycle to be heard. I really didn't feel like shouting myself hoarse.

"Yeah," Leah called back. Shouting didn't seem to bother her much. Then again, she'd spent the better part of the last decade shouting for less reason than this. "Nobody minds going. Usually only takes an hour or so, and plus Kim makes breakfast for us all."

Remembering all the gossip Seth had filled me in on the week before gave me an idea. "So it's not strictly wolves-only?"

"Well, wolves and those in the know. Why, do you want to come along?"

"Could I?" I asked. "I want to talk to a couple of the guys after the meeting about something."

"I don't see why not. If Sam or Jacob has a problem with it, they'll take it up with you."

"If they object, I'll just wait outside or something. It's no big deal."

"Nah, considering we're supposed to be protecting you, I'm sure they'd rather have you around," Leah told me. "It'd be pretty embarrassing if somebody came along and did you in right outside of where we were all talking."

Embarrassing. Not precisely the word I might have chosen to describe my own demise.

Once we were back home, I collapsed into bed. I had grown accustomed enough to being human that I no longer needed to take aspirin to get by, which I supposed was a good thing. Now the only pain I had to deal with was the crushing emotional kind. I had enough distractions to keep me from mulling it over too much throughout the day, but late nights were another story. Alone in the dark, I spent hours trying to fall asleep every night, plagued by memories of the golden-haired angel who had once belonged to me.

The next morning, I attended the pack meeting. My attention drifted constantly. My name was mentioned quite a bit, which always drew my notice, but they were only discussing my protection and how long the pack would need to take full responsibility for it. To my surprise, no one seemed to mind this additional duty. Apparently, becoming a human meant past sins were forgiven.

As Leah had predicted, her imprinting was a hot topic. She tried hard to act like her old self, sneering and shouting at the others to mind their own business, but she wasn't very successful at hiding the smile behind her eyes. Although they teased her mercilessly, the boys seemed genuinely happy for her. I wondered how much of that happiness was due to the fact that she would no longer be making their lives miserable.

"For the last order of business, Jacob has asked for the floor," Sam announced.

Jacob sat up a little straighter. The group was sprawled out all over Sam's living room with most of them sitting on the floor. Between their numbers and their size, no amount of furniture would have been enough to hold all of them.

"Emmett, would you care to join me?" Jacob asked. I was taken completely aback by his question, but I complied, making my way to the patch of floor occupied by Jacob. "Emmett brought something to my attention earlier this week, and after quite a bit of thought, I realized that he was right."

What was he talking about? I mentally went over the last conversation I'd had with Jacob. I'd told him not to be so afraid of a kitten, and I'd spoken to him briefly about my car, but none of those seemed like pack business.

"I believe it's time for us to reconsider the treaty with the Cullens. Emmett, would you care to tell the group what you told me on Monday?"

My eyes widened as I realized that Jacob had been talking about the conversation I'd had with him on the way to La Push on my first day as a human. I had been understandably bitter and not necessarily in my right mind. I'd only meant a fraction of what I had said, but now I had to repeat it.

"Well," I began nervously. "All I really said was that I thought it was a little unfair that my family has opened their home to any and all of you, but they're still not allowed in La Push. Edward and Bella have even trusted you with their daughter, but they can't come with her. It seems like the treaty is one-sided at this point."

"One-sided?" Jared grumbled. "They're lucky we let them live at all."

"Jared," Sam warned. "The Cullens are not our enemy. Emmett makes a valid point."

I did?

"I agree with Jacob and with Emmett," Sam continued. "The Cullens have proven themselves time and again to be worthy allies and friends of the packs. Still, the treaty does serve an important purpose. Without it, future generations may have a difficult time understanding that the Cullens are not to be harmed. What do you propose, Jacob?"

"In light of everything that has happened over the last few years, I believe that the Cullens should simply be considered off-limits unless they prove themselves to be a danger at some future date," Jacob replied simply. "They should be permitted to come onto our land if they'd like."

Sam nodded. "What do you believe would constitute a danger? Biting a human?"

Jacob took a deep breath and paused, considering his next words. "The Cullens don't create vampires indiscriminately. I believe that we should allow them to use their judgment in the creation of others of their kind if there is a legitimate need. However, I do think that Carlisle should always need to be the one to make the call on whether or not a legitimate need exists. The others are good people too, but I trust Carlisle's judgment the most."

"Emmett, do you believe your family would find these terms acceptable?" Sam asked. I'd barely had time for Jacob's words to sink in. So Carlisle would be permitted to turn humans if he had need, so long as he was the one making the call? I knew that Carlisle had no plans to ever create another of our kind after he'd turned me, but Bella had been proof enough that sometimes a need existed. What about Rosalie? If she didn't care for me anymore, perhaps one day she'd find another mate. Could I really deny her the chance to be happy just because it would be painful for _me_ to think of her with another man? No. If Rosalie found someone new one day and wanted him to be turned, I wouldn't stand in her way. Allowing Carlisle to make the call meant that she had a better chance at future happiness.

"Yes," I told him. "I believe those terms are perfectly fair."

"Very well," Sam said. "Henceforth, the treaty shall read that the Cullens may go anywhere they please, so long as they abide by the following terms: They are not to kill humans, and they may only turn others if their leader Carlisle deems it necessary. We should also be informed of any new additions to the family as soon as it is reasonably possible to do so. If at any time the pack feels that the Cullens are taking undue advantage of the new terms of the treaty, we will take appropriate action, but I do not believe this will become a problem. Emmett, if Carlisle disagrees with any points in the new treaty, please let us know right away. Unless I hear otherwise from you or from Carlisle, I will assume that you are qualified to speak on behalf of the Cullens and that the terms have been accepted."

"Thank you," I replied, sincerely grateful for the changes. I would be calling to relay the news as soon as possible. This meant that my family would be able to visit me too. Suddenly, all the time I had to spend in La Push didn't seem so bad. I let my mind drift to thoughts of afternoons spent with various members of my family at the Clearwaters. If I knew Esme, she would insist that everyone take a turn at visiting me during the hours that Leah was at work and Seth was asleep. Except for Bella, but in time perhaps she'd be able to take a turn as well. I couldn't help feeling elated by the idea of being able to see my family more often.

"Unless anyone has any further business to discuss, I believe we're finished for the week," Sam addressed the group. "As always, thank you all for coming."

Although the meeting was dismissed, no one immediately got up to leave. Instead, the atmosphere just changed from a formal meeting to a casual gathering while everyone broke off into several conversations in small groups. It was a good thing I hadn't been asked to wait outside. I would never have realized when the meeting had ended.

Jacob's pack had all placed themselves around him for the meeting, and none of them really stirred afterward. This worked out fine for me, since I was seated near Jacob as well. "Embry?" I addressed one of Jaocb's oldest friends.

"Yeah?" Embry answered, sounding a little surprised that I had singled him out.

"I hear you get out around town a lot," I said casually.

"I do," he confirmed suspiciously.

"I just wondered if you might want a wingman for tonight?" I asked.

"Oh," he answered, brightening up immediately. "Yeah, sure, that'd be great!"

"Emmett's gonna drink?" Seth laughed loudly. "This I gotta see!"

"Oh come on man," Embry complained. "I've been trying for months to get you to come out with me and you always have some lame excuse. Emmett wants to go one time and suddenly you're coming along?"

"I work nights! That's not a lame excuse!" Seth protested.

"You don't work on the weekends," Embry pointed out.

"Whatever man, can't you just be happy if I go tonight?" Seth's voice took on a whiny quality, which caused Embry to burst out laughing.

"I'd better go along too. Keep my brother out of trouble," Leah piped up.

Jacob's eyes darted back and forth among the Clearwaters and Embry. "I can't let my pack go out unsupervised. Sam will hold me responsible if you guys break anything."

"Come along then," Embry said cheerfully. "The more the merrier. Quil, you in? Claire'll be asleep by then anyway. Might as well have a little fun with the boys. And Leah," he added just before getting socked in the arm.

Quil hesitated briefly, but relented. "Sure, why not? Paul and Jared have patrol covered tonight. No real reason for any of us to stay home."

"This is going to be great!" Embry's excitement was contagious as he clapped his hands together in front of him. "For once, I won't just be a creepy guy sitting at the bar alone and leering at every girl that walks in."

"Well, you'll still be a creepy guy leering at every girl that walks in," Leah told him. "You'll just be doing it with others around you this time."

"It's not like I leer at them for _long_," Embry defended himself. "Just long enough to see if I might imprint. Then I go right back to nursing my drink."

"You nurse your drinks? I would've thought you'd be out getting hammered," I remarked.

Embry laughed. "Wolf metabolism, remember? Takes a lot for us to get blasted, and even when we do, we're stone-cold sober again after about half an hour. I gave up on trying to get drunk after I blew through a hundred bucks one night and barely got buzzed."

"Oh, well that's not a problem," I informed him. "Tonight, all the drinks are on the Cullens. Call it a celebration of the new treaty."

"Sweeeeet," Embry cheered, turning the word into three syllables. "We don't even need a designated driver. We just need to wait half an hour to sober up."

This distraction was going to be just what I needed. I couldn't wait for the night to begin.

"Okay, well, I want to get in a nap before we go out," Seth said, standing. "I came straight to the meeting after work and I'm beat. I'm gonna head home."

"I'll go with you," I told him. "I need to call home and tell the others the good news about the treaty."

Seth started snoring practically the moment the door to his room shut. Nevertheless, I stepped outside to make my phone call to Carlisle.

"I hope I haven't overstepped my boundaries," I told him after explaining the new terms. "I really did think the new treaty sounded very fair."

"Not at all. Regardless of the circumstances, you are still a part of our family, and you're more than qualified to speak on our behalf. I agree with you; I'm quite pleased by the terms of the new treaty. The others will be delighted to be able to visit. I'm going to share the good news with the family. Thank you for letting us know," Carlisle said cheerfully.

"Oh, and Carlisle? Don't worry about sending anyone to visit tonight. I've got plans with Jacob's pack."

"I'm glad you're beginning to adjust. You sound much more upbeat than you did a few days ago," Carlisle told me.

"I feel more upbeat too," I admitted.

"Please don't hesitate to call if you need anything at all," Carlisle told me, which of course I already knew.

I practically bounded back inside, barely able to sit still. This had been the best day in weeks, and the night was only going to be better.


	24. Drinking

**Quick warning. This chapter contains alcohol consumption by multiple characters, including a minor. If this offends, upsets, or triggers you, please do not read this chapter. Feel free to PM me if you need to skip this chapter for any reason and would like a summary. No questions asked. Please note that I do not condone drinking to excess on a regular basis, nor do I encourage underage drinking. These are fictional characters. The dangers that exist from alcohol consumption do not apply to them.**

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Twenty-Four - Drinking

Jacob's pack started gathering at the Clearwaters' at 8:00. Quil was running a little late, and the others suspected he probably had to call Claire and sing her a lullaby before she'd go to bed. It wasn't a problem at all, considering that Leah hadn't come out of the bathroom yet by the time he finally showed up at quarter to nine. I didn't have the foggiest idea what she was doing. It wasn't as if she was a typical girl.

Each of the guys had brought a small knapsack along containing a change of clothes "just in case." I was a little worried about that. Surely they had sense enough not to phase in the middle of a bar. Didn't they? Seth seemed to pick up on my anxiety.

"Don't worry. We aren't going to phase. We just like to be prepared for anything. I mean, what if we smelled a vampire nearby and it wasn't a Cullen?"

"I guess that makes sense." I wasn't going to let anything ruin the night anyway. I deserved to have some fun, didn't I? I had rummaged through practically every item of clothing I owned and called Alice for her opinions half a dozen times. It would have been so much easier if she could see me. She could have just called when I got it right. In the end, I had settled on a slightly shiny silver button-down shirt and a pair of black pants. I didn't really expect to pick up any women, but it sure would be an ego boost if a girl or two actually noticed me. I thought I might actually have a chance at that. Seth, Quil, and Jacob were all dressed in jeans and T-shirts. Embry was the only one who had made much of an effort, and his fashion sense would have appalled Alice. He wore a shirt with a paisley pattern in so many colors it made my eyes hurt to look at him for long. He and I were both a little anxious to get moving, but Leah was still holed up.

Seth finally went to get her. "Come on, Leah. Everyone's waiting for you," he called from outside the bathroom door.

"You know, I could get ready a lot faster if I didn't have to stop to yell at you," she called back. After a few more minutes, the door finally clicked open, and a woman I swore I'd never seen before in my life emerged.

Leah actually owned what Alice and Rosalie always called a "little black dress." I'd spent enough time listening to the girls argue about fashion to recognize that it was a halter dress. The neckline was low and V-shaped, showing off just the right amount of cleavage. There was a 3-inch wide strip of silk around her waist, and the dress flowed loosely down to her knees. The material in the skirt was gathered slightly in the front. More than just the dress though, Leah had taken the time to apply makeup and do her hair. She kept it fairly short due to the troubles involved in having too much fur as a wolf, but she had applied product to it. Her hair was sleek and framed her face with a few tendrils curling near her eyes, which were done in a smoky way that perfectly mimicked a fashion magazine model. She'd used a combination of black, gray, and a touch of purple. Her eyelashes looked thicker and longer. She was also wearing pink lip gloss.

In short, Leah was stunning.

"Geez Leah..." Embry stammered.

"Too much?" she asked, self-conscious.

"No... I just didn't know you had it in you." Embry looked like he needed to roll his tongue up and stuff it back into his mouth.

"I just figured if we're going out, I might as well make it count," she replied sheepishly.

"Well you look great," I told her sincerely. "Now let's get going!" Leah snatched up her own knapsack that she'd prepared ahead of time. I hoped she didn't wind up needing it. It would be a shame for her to ruin that dress. I wondered what she'd look like if she turned into a wolf while wearing makeup. Would the wolf have smoky eyes?

Quil drove a Ford Expedition that was only a few years old, and we were all able to fit into it, if a little uncomfortably. None of us were exactly small. Embry sat up front with him and gave directions to the new bar he'd planned to check out that night. All of us were old enough to drink legally, with the possible exception of me. I had been 20 when I was turned, but my legal papers claimed I was 26, considering that I supposedly graduated from high school eight years before. I was a big enough guy to pull it off, and I knew Jenks's paperwork was infallible, so I knew that wouldn't be a problem. Seeing as I was actually nearly a hundred years old, chronologically speaking, I decided I wasn't really doing anything wrong.

I was practically bouncing out of my seat by the time we arrived at the bar. I had never been inside of a bar in my life. I hadn't been legally old enough to drink when I was turned, and anyway, prohibition had been in effect for most of my human life. I'd had absolutely no reason to enter a bar once I'd become a vampire. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. In the time it took Quil to find a place to park, I had all but forgotten about everything in the world except for the night of fun which lie ahead.

Decades of movie watching had led me to believe that the bar was going to be a multi-level atmosphere full of dancing, lights, and music. In reality, it was a relatively small, dimly-lighted place with a thick layer of cigarette smoke settling over everything. The music part was accurate at least, but instead of techno dance music, there was a jukebox in the corner playing whatever people paid to hear. There were a couple of separate rooms. One room had a pool table and dart boards, while the other was just full of small tables and a gigantic counter in the middle with what seemed like hundreds of bottles of alcohol behind it. This, I knew from television, was the bar. Despite the fact that this place was far from what I'd pictured, it was incredibly crowded with people from all walks of life, all having fun and enjoying the company of one another.

"So uh, what do we do now?" I asked.

"We find a place to sit or stand and make it our home base. We get drinks, and we talk to whoever catches our eye," Embry replied. He was scanning the room, pausing to scrutinize the face of each woman in the bar.

"Right, those guys over there look like they're leaving," Jacob pointed out two middle-aged couples seated at a small table. They were gathering up their phones and pocketbooks. "Let's snag that table."

We made our way over. Two boys who looked to be about our age had been eying the same table, but upon seeing that our group contained five very large men, they seemed to think better of it and resumed leaning on the edge of the bar. Before long, a waitress showed up to take our drink order. Unfortunately, I didn't have the faintest idea what to get. Back in my day, I'd drank a little wine here and there, but just like the supermarket incident a couple of weeks before, I was completely unfamiliar with the variety of drinks available.

"Surprise me," I said. The wolves each ordered two drinks, which might have surprised me if we hadn't already discussed their freakish metabolism. I passed the waitress my credit card and asked her to keep the drinks coming and put everything on there.

"So this is what you do every night?" I asked Embry.

"Pretty much. Usually don't have company though. This is much more fun!"

Quil immediately fed the jukebox and picked out a few fairly recent tunes with which I was only vaguely familiar. The table barely had room for all of us, and Leah seemed to prefer to stand rather than taking a chance on accidentally flashing anyone. That surprised me. I was under the impression that she wasn't entirely modest, due to the fact that the pack had all seen her exploding out of her clothes at one time or another.

The waitress returned a short time later with our drinks. Although I hadn't ordered two drinks, she handed me two anyway. I guessed she figured that since my companions all ordered two drinks, she ought to get me two as well. Unlike everyone else, my drinks were two distinctly different colors. "This one is whiskey and coke," she explained, "and this one is a martini. Do you guys need anything else right now?"

Before she was done speaking, Embry had knocked back both of his drinks. "Two more please," he announced. Seth and Jacob shrugged at one another and did likewise. I was beginning to wonder if we shouldn't have sat at the bar. I had a feeling the waitress was just going to be running back and forth to our table all night. In retrospect, I should have known better than to try to keep up with the boys. After all, I was only human. Still, I wasn't about to be outdone. I guzzled my whiskey and coke and then tried to do likewise with the martini. It was a lot stronger than I expected. It went down a little like fire, but I wasn't about to complain. The waitress gave us all a strange look, but went to bring us more drinks.

After we all had a couple more rounds, the two boys who had wanted our table were sauntering over. I was worried that they might be looking for a fight, but it turned out they had something else entirely in mind. "Hello there," the taller one said to Leah. "I've never seen you here before."

"I've never been here before," she replied.

"Well now that's a shame. My name is Ted. And you are...?"

"Leah," she told him.

"Nice to meet you, Leah. Would you care to dance?"

Leah looked nervously at the rest of us. I shrugged my shoulders indifferently while Embry nodded encouragingly. "Isaac won't mind," Seth whispered. "It's just a dance."

"Sure, why not?" She quickly guzzled her two shots of tequila and let Ted lead her to the middle of the bar, which seemed to serve as an unofficial dance floor.

"Anybody wanna play pool?" I asked. I hadn't played in years, but I seemed to remember being pretty good at it. Quil took me up on my offer immediately, and the two of us moved into the next room to start up a game. Either I wasn't as good as I'd remembered being, or the alcohol was hitting me more strongly than I thought. Quil beat me two games in a row and we were about to start up a third when a bulky guy in a wife-beater shirt tapped me on the shoulder.

"Were you two planning on hogging the table all night?" he grumbled.

"Oh, sorry, we didn't know anyone was waiting. We just got carried away," I said amicably.

"Hey, we already paid for this game," Quil complained.

"It's no big deal, he can play. He's been waiting. Let's go see what everyone else is up to." It was only money, after all.

"He should've said something before we paid then," Quil wasn't backing down.

"Okay, how about this. He can play this game, and then we'll come back and he can pay for our next game. That sound fair to you?" I was still trying to keep the peace.

"I'm not paying for you two to play any more. You've already been hogging the table," the man replied.

Quil was starting to shake.

"Quil, just forget it. We'll come back another time and play. Don't worry about it. Heck, I'll build a pool lounge on the res if you want. Let's just check on the others, okay?" I lowered my voice to a low whisper and added "You don't want to do this here."

"Fine," Quil growled, to my relief.

"That's right, cowards," the other man laughed. If he had any idea what he was dealing with, he wouldn't be laughing.

"Come _on_, Quil." I put my hands on Quil's shoulders and steered him back toward the bar, hoping that a few more drinks might put him back in a better frame of mind.

Unfortunately, things weren't looking much better out here. We returned to the table just in time to see Leah slug Ted in the eye hard enough to knock him into a wall.

"What do you think you're doing?" she screeched. "You think you can just put your hands wherever you want? I said we could dance. I didn't say you could grope me."

Seth leaped up to help out. "Did you touch my sister without her permission?"

"Sister?" Ted mumbled, pulling himself into a seated position and rubbing his face. "Man, I didn't know she was your sister."

"Seth, I've got this under control," Leah hissed. "Go back and join the others."

Now Seth and Leah were both shaking, and Quil had started up again. I had no idea how I was going to get this under control. Maybe if I'd been sober I could have thought of something, but thirty minutes of pool hadn't been enough to clear the liquor out of my system. All I could really think about was how funny the word "sister" was all of a sudden.

Our waitress returned to our table and handed me my credit card. "You guys are done," she announced. "If you need a cab, I'll call you one, but you're going to have to wait outside for it. Sign here for your tab."

I didn't even look at the slip of paper she handed me. I signed it and told her to fill in whatever she thought was appropriate for a tip, apologizing for the trouble. "Guys, let's go," I called. "We've worn out our welcome here."

"Fine with me," Leah snarled.

"Me too," Quil grumbled.

We hadn't even been at the bar for an hour. I was a little disappointed as we climbed back into Quil's car. He assured us he was perfectly sober, having already burned off the alcohol in his body while we were playing pool. We got back on the highway and rode in silence for awhile. I was the only one who was still inebriated, and I wanted to party some more. On the way back, I saw a bright neon sign for an all-night liquor store.

"Stop the car!" I cried.

"Are you going to hurl? Dude, do it outside! I drive Claire around in this car all the time," Quil panicked, pulling over.

"No, no, no... We're going there!" I pointed to the store. Quil furrowed his brow in confusion as a slow smile spread over Seth's face.

"Awesome, let's do it!" He clapped me on the back and jumped out of the car, running back to the store with no regard for the fact that we were on the highway with a metal rail in between us and the store. The others piled out as well, leaving Quil alone to guard the car in case a police officer should happen by.

20 bottles of hard liquor and 6 cases of beer later, we piled back into the car, leaving behind a very confused but thrilled store owner. "Now we just need a good place to drink!" I remarked as Quil pulled back onto the highway.

"I know just the spot," Leah answered. "Quil, take us to First Beach." From my angle, I could see the corner of Quil's mouth turn up slightly.

A short time later, Leah had led us to a secluded spot on the beach where the water was close enough to see, but far enough away that we could sit comfortably away from it in the sand. Everyone immediately pulled off their shoes and tossed them into a pile, so I followed suit, albeit with slightly less coordination.

"Who needs a fancy schmancy bar anyway when we've got a beautiful beach and plenty of liquor and friends?" Seth boomed loudly, opening up a bottle of whiskey. Jacob cracked open one of the cases of beer and pulled out several bottles for himself. They really hadn't been kidding at all about their ability to imbibe. If I hadn't known better, I would swear none of them had drank a drop all night.

"Time to resume the party," Embry announced. "We're gonna have to work double-time since we're all sober again. Gotta catch up to Emmett!"

"That could be tricky," Leah remarked after taking a long drink from a bottle of tequila, "but I'm up for a challenge. I've got an idea. Let's play I Never."

"What's that?" I asked, confused.

"It's a drinking game," Embry explained. "I say something I never did, and if you've done it, you have to drink."

"Oh, so if I said, for example, 'I never sprouted fur and a snout and ran around on all fours,' you guys would have to..." Before I could finish my sentence, all five wolves had tipped up their drinks.

"You've got it," Seth grinned.

"Hey guys, what's going on out here? I heard the car coming down to the beach and came to check it out." Another voice had appeared from somewhere near Quil's car. My vision was still a little blurry, and I couldn't quite make out who was there.

"Hey Sam," Jacob called back. "We're just playing I Never. You want to join us? Paul and Jared have patrol covered tonight, after all."

"I don't know," Sam mumbled as he approached, casting a wary glance in Leah's direction.

"It's fine, Sam. Have a seat. Take a load off. We've got plenty of booze to go around," Leah told him. Sam seemed a little surprised, but complied. "By the way, you have to drink. Emmett just started us off talking about how he never turned into a wolf." She handed him a bottle of vodka, which he complied in drinking from.

"So where were we?" Seth grinned. "Oh, I know. I never wore a dress."

Leah shot Seth a cold glare and drank. I sighed and tipped up my bottle as well.

"What the hell, Emmett?" Embry was shocked.

"One year for Halloween, Rosalie had this idea that she was going to dress up as a man and I was going to dress up as a woman. It was the eighties," I explained. "She made me wear pantyhose and everything. They itched."

"All right, I'll let that slide," Embry grinned. "I never imprinted!"

Quil and Jacob drank immediately. Leah and Sam exchanged a look first. Leah's lips turned up in the smallest of apologetic smiles, and Sam smiled right back at her. The two of them clinked their bottles together and drank. I was sure things were going to be different between the two of them from now on.

"Well," Leah said, grinning. "I never drank blood."

"That's not fair! You specifically targeted me!" I grumbled.

"You specifically targeted us with that fur and four legs remark," she shot back.

"Fine." I took a drink from my bottle.

"I never had a choice in what I was going to be," Sam said quietly. All seven of us drank.

"I never led a pack of werewolves," Quil laughed while Sam and Jacob drank.

"I never knew who my father was," Embry said wistfully while the rest of us drank.

"Too deep, pal," Jacob lamented. "I never had to share a bathroom with Leah." Seth and I drank while Leah stuck out her tongue at Jacob.

"I never had to share a bathroom with _any_ girl other than my mom," Embry amended. Jacob gave him a dirty look as he and Sam drank, while Seth and I drank once again. Jacob had shared a bathroom with his sisters, after all, and Sam shared one with his wife Emily.

"I never imprinted on a _minor_," Sam teased. Jacob, Leah, and Quil took their turn in good humor.

"I never graduated from college," Embry spoke up again. Leah and I were the only ones drinking this time.

"I think Emmett should have to drink once for every time he graduated college," Leah suggested.

"No way," I protested. "Do you have any idea how many times that is?"

"Nah, we can't start doing that Leah," Jacob told her. "If we did, things could get nasty real quick. Like I could say, I never kissed a guy."

Leah sneered and took a long drink. "Fine, you've got a point. But I never kissed a girl."

The rest of us all took a drink. Leah watched us all before grinning and taking another drink herself.

"No _way_ Leah!" Quil shouted.

"Hey, the last eight years have been a little rough for me. I wanted to try something new. Didn't take."

"How is it possible that we didn't know about this?" Embry questioned.

"I tried really, really hard not to think about it while I was in wolf form," Leah smiled sheepishly. Sam merely shook his head while trying to conceal a small smile of his own.

"I never got dumped," Quil spoke up. Grudgingly, I lifted my bottle to my lips along with Jacob, Leah, Seth, and Embry.

"Embry? Seth? Is there something you haven't told us?" Jacob prompted.

"Aw come on guys, I've dated girls. It's not like I've been living under a rock," Embry defended himself.

"Well you guys know our stories," Leah pointed out. "So spill. That's kind of the whole point of this game."

"You guys know I go out almost every night to see if I might imprint. Sometimes I meet a girl that I don't imprint on, but I still want to get to know. It never lasts more than a couple of weeks. I never let any of them get too close, because what if I _do_ ever imprint?" Embry explained. "There, not such an exciting story, now is it?"

"How about you, Seth?" I asked, turning to the younger Clearwater.

"Uh, well, I guess I can tell you guys _now_," Seth mumbled. "See, my parents were a little strict about Leah and I dating when we were younger. They didn't really want us dating until after high school. They couldn't do a lot about it when Leah broke the rules, but they came down extra hard on me. There was this girl though, when I was 15, right before I phased. We kept it a secret. After I phased, of course I couldn't tell her why I was suddenly never at school and never agreed to see her. She didn't hang around long after that. She figured I'd fallen in with 'Sam's gang.'" Seth snorted a little at the way the other kids in La Push referred to the pack. "After that, it took a few years before I felt like I could actually be around a fragile human girl, and now, like Embry, I'm afraid to get too close to anyone, since imprinting likes to ruin everything. It's lonely sometimes, but I'll get it all figured out one of these days."

"Imprinting isn't _all_ bad," Leah said quietly, peering at Sam from beneath her eyelashes. "Sometimes it gives you a second chance when you thought all your chances were used up."

"Your chances at being an important part of my life were never used up, Leah," Sam replied quietly and with conviction.

"I never made amends with an ex," I called out, lifting my bottle skyward. Sam and Leah smiled sincerely at one another and drank. Jacob stared down at his twelfth beer with a confused expression on his face.

"Was Bella technically an ex?" he asked.

"Hmm. Leah, can we get an official ruling on whether Jacob has to drink or not?" I asked.

Leah rolled her eyes. "Drink, jackass. I don't know what you and Bella were, but you weren't _exactly_ just friends." Jacob shrugged in agreement and took a drink.

I heard a car pull up along the beach and debating turning to look, but moving my head too much just made me dizzy. I figured I was pretty well protected with six werewolves around me anyway. "Hey guys, what's going on out here?" Yet another voice had joined us, this one a female.

"Nessie! What are you doing here? It is _way _past your bedtime, young lady." I tried to put on my stern uncle voice, but I suspected it probably came out much more like a massive goofball, considering how much alcohol I'd consumed.

Nessie rolled her eyes at me. "I got to bed pretty late last night. I was up talking to everyone about the implications of Josh and Isaac knowing what we were and continuing to go to school with them. So this morning I slept in, and now I can't sleep. I tried to call Jacob to see what he was up to, but when he didn't answer his phone, I got worried and came down. Bella said it was okay, as long as I called as soon as I got here. I drove faster than I was supposed to though," she flashed a grin, "so I'd better wait a few minutes to call. Anyway, so what are you guys up to?"

Leah's glares in Nessie's direction weren't missed by anyone. It had been extremely difficult for her to keep a secret from the others all day why she'd been around Isaac to imprint on him in the first place, and Nessie had promised to talk to Jacob today about dating Josh. Technically, she'd already broken her promise, since it was past midnight.

"We're playing I Never," Jacob answered. "Why were you looking for me anyway?"

"What's I Never?" Nessie asked, evading the question.

"It's a game. You say something you never did, and everyone who's done that has to take a drink," Jacob explained, still gazing questioningly at my niece.

"Oh, I never heard of that game," Nessie remarked.

All seven of us took a drink.

"No, I didn't mean—I wasn't playing!" she cried out, embarrassed.

"It's okay, Ness. We're all a little sloshy at this point," I reassured her. "No one is holding you accountable."

"Oh, okay. Um, Jacob? I never got a chance to talk to you today..." she began.

I took a drink, along with Seth, Leah, Embry, Quil, and Sam.

"Stop that, guys!" Nessie protested. We burst into hysterical giggles.

"I never unintentionally played I Never," Quil choked out between laughter. Embry stared expectantly at Nessie, waiting for her to drink.

"Guys, no. I'm not old enough to drink," Nessie lamented.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to do, Nessie. Don't pay attention to them." Jacob assured her.

"Yeah, that's right," I jumped to Nessie's defense too. "I never wanted you to get into any trouble."

Very deliberately, Leah lifted her bottle to her lips and drank without taking her eyes away from Nessie.

Nessie narrowed her eyes at Leah. "Is that so? Well _I_ never wanted anyone here dead."

The rest of us looked at one another uncomfortably for a moment before bursting into laughter and drinking. "Sorry guys," I grinned.

"Water under the bridge, my man," Seth replied, clapping me on the back.

"Can't do it on purpose if you aren't going to join in the game," Leah sneered. "I never drank blood."

"Come on Leah, that's not fair!" I grumbled. "You already did that one."

"All's fair in love, war, and I Never," Leah snapped.

I glared at Leah, but took a drink anyway. Nessie sighed and sat beside Jacob, still refusing to play.

"Well, _I_ never used the same question twice in a game of I Never," I shot back at her.

Leah tipped up her bottle once again.

"Cut it out you two," Jacob chastised us both. "This is a fun and friendly game. Let's keep it that way."

Leah ignored Jacob, choosing her next words carefully. "I never had a choice of who I would spend my life with."

I shifted uncomfortably. I had told Nessie that she had to tell Jacob the truth or I was going to do it for her, but I still would never have been so venomous about forcing her hand like this.

Nessie glared at Leah for a long time before finally snatching up one of Jacob's unopened beers and draining it on the spot.

"Holy cow, Nessie! You aren't supposed to drink the whole thing!" I cried out.

"I didn't know!" Nessie stared at her empty bottle in horror. "I never played this game before."

The seven of us drank.

"I never even had a drink before," she continued.

The seven of us drank once again, Jacob eying Nessie with a confused expression.

"I never knew beer was so bitter," she sputtered.

The seven of us took another drink.

"I never—"

"Nessie, stop, you're killing us here," I slurred.

"Sorry, I forgot already. Jacob," she said, turning to him. "I never meant to hurt you," she began.

I rolled my eyes and took a drink, much to the amusement of the other members of the packs. I _had_ wanted to tear him limb from limb at one point in time.

"There's something I have to talk to you about. Can we move further down the beach for a few minutes? Away from Leah?" Nessie added, glaring. Jacob nodded, looking rather concerned. He rose slowly to his feet, stumbling slightly as he stood and staggered down the beach with Nessie.

"I never thought you were so heartless, Leah," I called her out on her little maneuvers. Seth, Quil, and Embry took a drink while Leah smirked.

"What's going on with those two anyway?" Quil asked, his voice full of concern for one of his closest friends.

I sighed, beginning to explain before Leah could do it and paint Nessie in a much worse light. "Nessie wants to explore what other options she has before she commits to settling down with Jacob. She wants to go on some dates with normal boys like a normal person and then make up her mind. She doesn't want to jump right into a relationship with Jacob that she might resent him for later."

Quil nodded slowly. "That makes sense. I would never want Claire to feel like she's stuck with me when she grows up. It's better that she's sure that she's happy."

Leah gaped at Quil. "You really wouldn't have a problem with just being her friend if that's what she wanted?"

"Would you, if that was what Isaac really wanted?" Leah opened her mouth to speak, then stared down the beach at the shadowy forms of Nessie and Jacob.

"No, I guess I wouldn't," she said softly. "It's all about Isaac's happiness. If he's happy, I'm happy. God, I'm such an idiot. I never think before I act."

Seth patted his sister on the shoulder before taking a drink along with the rest of us. We all lapsed into a fit of laughter once again, and a few minutes later, Nessie and Jacob rejoined us.

"You guys cool?" Leah asked with genuine concern. "I never meant to cause trouble between you."

Jacob glared at Leah until she took a drink from her bottle. Satisfied, he addressed her question. "I won't lie and say I'm not a little disappointed that Nessie didn't think she could talk to me about this, but we're fine."

"Oh, I still need to call my parents," Nessie remembered suddenly, pulling out her phone. It started to buzz before she could even dial. "Hi Mom," she answered, calling Bella "Mom" in an obvious effort to butter her up so she wouldn't be so upset at Nessie's failure to call in a timely fashion. "Sorry I forgot to call. Everything's fine, the guys and Leah are just hanging at the beach. Yeah, Emmett's here too. Oh really? Oh my gosh, what did she see?" Nessie started glancing around at all of us in a panic. "Okay, we'll be right there." She ended the call and continued her panicked expression.

"Guys, Alice saw something. My mom wouldn't tell me exactly what it was, but she said it's extremely important that I get home immediately and bring Emmett and any members of the packs who are willing and able to come. I think it's serious."

We all stared at one another. None of us was in any position to be driving a car by this point. The beach was littered with empty bottles of hard liquor and beer. Even Nessie couldn't drive, because if she happened to get pulled over, she'd be arrested under the zero tolerance laws for minors.

"Only one way to travel now," Leah giggled, pulling her dress up over her head. Apparently, being full of alcohol lowered her inhibitions considerably. She tried to carefully fold her dress, but her hands didn't seem to be cooperating. Nessie took it from her and folded it while Leah exploded out of her undergarments and into her wolf form. She stared at me, jerking her head backward to indicate that I should climb onto her back.

"I don't know, guys... Can we maybe wait half an hour for all of you to sober up?" Leah-wolf rolled her eyes at me and jerked her head backward once again.

"I don't think there's time for that," Nessie said quietly. She and the boys set about quickly gathering up the empty bottles and tossing them into the back of Quil's car for later disposal. I started to help, but immediately stepped on a bottle in a drunken stupor and broke it.

"Just go, Emmett," Jacob ordered. "Nessie, you'll go with me. We can't afford for either of you to be bleeding when we get there. The rest of you, clean up as fast as you can and then follow. We'll do a more thorough job of cleaning up the beach when we have a chance." Jacob began pulling off his clothes as he spoke, and I grabbed Nessie and turned her so she was facing away from Jacob. I turned her back around once he had become a wolf. She and I climbed onto the backs of the brown and gray wolves, respectively, and set off toward my family's home. I had a feeling whatever news awaited us, it couldn't be good if Bella was sending for the wolves.

**One more note: I've included a link to Leah's dress in my profile. I couldn't describe it well enough to do it justice.**


	25. Plan

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Twenty-Five - Plan

Maybe riding on a werewolf's back would have been less fun if I was sober. I wouldn't know. All I know is how much fun it was when I was drunk. Wow. For a moment, I thought I was going to be sick from the sheer speed we were moving. Sure, I'd run fast when I was a vampire, but I'd always been in complete control of where I was going. This was altogether a different experience. Wind in my hair, trees whizzing by, and all I had to do was hang on and enjoy the ride. I started to laugh, and then I burst into song.

"Born free! As free as the wind blows!" I sang at the top of my lungs. Leah seemed to think this was so funny that she nearly threw me off her back by mistake. She was laughing so hard in her wolf form that she tripped and crashed into Jacob, who was running alongside us with Nessie on his back. Both of them fell to the ground and Jacob snarled. I had momentarily forgotten that neither Leah nor Jacob was sober either.

"It's OK, Jake, calm down, let's just get to my house," Nessie pleaded. "I'm all right. You're all right. Emmett's all right. Leah's all right. Let's keep it that way, okay?"

"Mommy's all right, daddy's all right, they just seem a little weird," I sang out. Jacob gave me a stern look for a moment before making the snuffling-snorting sound the wolves made when they laughed. He and Leah struggled to get up without much success.

"I get knocked down, but I get up again, you ain't never gonna keep me down!" I sang as loudly as I could manage, which didn't help the situation in the slightest. By the time Jacob and Leah finally managed to get up out of the dirt, the other wolves had caught up. Of course the others, except for Sam, had seen the entire event play out in the minds of Jacob and Leah, and they were barely able to contain their own laughter. I assumed Jacob must have filled Sam in on what was going on when he started snuffling too.

We kept going. It felt like we were on a mission, so I started singing the Mission: Impossible theme song. "Dun dun, da da dun, dun." Between the wolves' inebriation and my constant changing of songs causing them to burst into hysterics, it was amazing that we made it to my family's house at all. They kept stumbling over rocks, over one another, and into trees. At one point, Embry fell on his face in a huge puddle, then got us all soaked when he shook off the water. This, of course, just caused me to burst into singing Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head.

Less than ten minutes had lapsed between Nessie getting the message from Bella and our arrival at the house. Nessie and I dismounted from our canine rides and stood waiting for the wolves to phase back. Although Leah and Jacob had taken off without grabbing their knapsacks, the others had remembered to pick them up, so everyone had clothes that actually fit. Instead of a bunch of wolves phasing back to human form though, we were faced with a bunch of wolves staring at us with constipated expressions.

"They can't phase back," Edward's voice explained to me from the doorway. "They're trying, but evidently being intoxicated prevents them from it." Nessie looked away with a guilty expression. "We'll talk about it later, Renesmee. We have more important matters to discuss." Nessie and I went inside, the wolves following us single-file through the door and squeezing themselves in wherever they could find a spot. Ultimately, this resulted in all of the vampires being gathered around the dining room table while the wolves were in the living room. I felt like I should be near my family, but Bella still made me nervous. I settled for staying near Jasper, just in case.

"Edward, are they in any state to understand?" Carlisle asked.

Edward sighed. "The wolves are. They're quite intoxicated, but they return to sobriety quickly. There will be no alcohol remaining in their systems twenty minutes from now. Emmett is more questionable—"

"You're questionable," I muttered.

"—but he should be able to grasp the finer points of the conversation," Edward finished. For some reason, he was speaking very loudly.

"You're a finer point," I retorted.

"What does that even mean?" Jasper asked me. "Is that supposed to be some kind of insult?"

"This is the guy," I said, draping my right arm around Jasper and pointing to him with my left. "This guy, right here. Look at that face! Is that a face that says 'I'm the guy' or what?"

Nessie did her best to hide a chuckle behind her hand, and the wolves were practically howling, but no one else seemed to find the humor in the situation. "Everybody's a critic," I muttered.

"Edward, are you all right dear?" Esme asked, concerned. "You're speaking with more volume than normal."

"I apologize. The wolves' thoughts are very loud. I can barely hear anything else, either mentally or aloud," Edward explained.

"What are they thinking?" Carlisle asked.

"They're singing." Edward grumbled. "At the moment, they're singing Stairway to Heaven, very off-key I might add. When they first arrived, they were singing Hungry Like the Wolf."

I looked back into the living room and could clearly see six furry heads bobbing in perfect unison as they sang together. Sam would only be able to hear Jacob, but he certainly seemed to be singing along too. I doubled over in hysterics, slumping to the ground. I wanted to get them started singing Friends in Low Places, but I couldn't get the words out between my fits of laughter.

Jasper hauled me to my feet. "Try to get a hold on yourself," he chastised me.

"Where's your sense of humor, man? Did Alice put it in a jar along with your—"

"Emmett, that's enough," Esme scolded. "We have a dire situation."

That was enough to shut me up, although it couldn't stop me from laughing on the inside. The wolves were still bobbing their heads, so I assumed they were still singing. A glance at the frown on Edward's face confirmed this for me.

"Alice has had a vision," Carlisle began. "It affects us all. As you know, Aro has ceased being a vampire," he gestured at the frail human with a hollow expression on his face. "Marcus also made a decision to leave the Volturi. This means that Caius alone is in charge of the rulers of our kind. He alone is responsible for ensuring that all of our laws are followed." He paused for a moment to let that sink in. I guessed he was hoping that the wolves would stop singing, but that was clearly a fruitless effort. Their heads were still moving in unison.

Edward pinched the bridge of his nose. "Breakin' the Law," he muttered.

Carlisle frowned disapprovingly. "Perhaps this should wait a few more minutes," he offered.

After a short pause, Edward shook his head. "The wolves seem to disagree. They're singing Right Now by Van Halen."

Carlisle sighed. "Caius was always the most ruthless of the three brothers. Aro was always concerned with his own power and status, but he tempered that somewhat with his desire to at least _appear_ diplomatic." Aro pursed his lips in embarrassment and gave an apologetic shrug. "Marcus tended to be the voice of reason, choosing to rule with benevolence and allow the benefit of the doubt whenever plausible, both before and after the loss of his mate. Caius, left to his own devices, would slaughter anyone who had been even accused of a crime without so much as looking for an explanation, and it is he who has been left in charge." Carlisle stopped speaking to glance at Edward for confirmation that the wolves were understanding the severity of the situation thus far.

"They're singing Maniac," Edward confirmed.

"Close enough," Carlisle muttered under his breath. "Caius, as you may recall, also has a vendetta against what Aro referred to as 'Children of the Moon,' or 'true werewolves.' He personally saw to what we believe to be the complete annihilation of the entire species. Although your pack is not related to the Children of the Moon in any way, Caius feels that no chances can be taken, and Alice has seen him decide to return here to personally see to the extinction of the packs as well."

The wolves stiffened, but still seemed unable to return to human form.

"They've switched to a rap song called 'Cop Killer,'" Edward explained. "I assume that means they want to fight."

"Alice can't see what will happen if you attempt to take Caius on, of course, and naturally our family will stand with you in a fight. After all you've done for us, it is the least we can do. However, you must understand that there is virtually no hope of victory for us. It would, in fact, be optimistic to think that any of us might survive." Carlisle's face was as grim as his words. "The Volturi will be expecting us to build forces like we did when we faced them off seven years ago. They will come with even greater numbers. Alice has seen some of the preparations Caius intends to make. No matter how hard we fight, we will fail, and we will die."

Carlisle's words sank slowly into my intoxicated mind. So this was it. This was how it ended for the Cullens, for the wolves, for all of us. The only comfort I could begin to take in this was that Rosalie might survive. If Rosalie continued to stay away, she would never cross paths with Caius and would never be subjected to his wrath. He probably wouldn't be especially interested in hunting her down if she was alone. I would die, and so would everyone else I cared about, but Rosalie would live on.

That would have to be enough.

"The Final Countdown," Edward rubbed his temples with his fingertips. "They want to stand against the Volturi no matter what the odds."

Carlisle nodded grimly. "Then we will attempt to put up the best fight we possibly can," he said. "We have many preparations to make, although it might be for the best if we wait a few more minutes until the wolves can contribute to the conversation. Alice feels that it will take Caius a few weeks to move against us. He wants to strengthen his numbers first. We'll also need to find someone to look after Emmett and Aro. I'm certain Tanya's family will take Emmett in, but Aro is a bit of a complication. Bella and Edward have also expressed that they would like Renesmee to go with Tanya's family, which, again, I do not believe will be a problem."

"What are you talking about?" Nessie shrieked. "I'm not going to go run and hide while you guys all die!"

"Renesmee, you won't stand a chance because you're half human. You're more vulnerable than the rest of us," Bella choked out.

"According to Carlisle, none of you stands a chance either!" Nessie protested. Jacob looked like he was trying hard once again to phase, probably to try to talk sense into Nessie. It was obvious that she needed to be far away from this battle. I wanted to protest myself, but I was an even bigger liability under the circumstances. I felt so completely helpless. Useless, even.

Everyone continued bickering amongst themselves. Incredibly, the wolves were still singing. I assumed they must have been gearing themselves up for battle, although I had no idea what song they might be singing. I looked to Edward, expecting him to answer my unspoken question as usual, but he didn't seem to have heard me. Evidently, the wolves were so loud they were drowning everything else out.

"What if," Aro spoke up slowly. "What if there was another way?"

"What did you have in mind, Aro?" Carlisle asked.

"Chelsea's bindings seem to have held up after I became human again. With Marcus and Sulpicia—" Aro choked on his wife's name, "—out of the way, I should be able to easily re-integrate into the Volturi. The guard is more loyal to me than to Caius. I saw to that during my time there. Unless it has occurred to him to change that?"

Alice shook her head. "He hasn't made any decisions concerning asking Chelsea to change any bindings. I doubt he's thought of it, or perhaps he just assumed that his bindings to the guard were as strong as yours."

Aro nodded. "I should be able to use my influence to prevent the attack from going forward. Perhaps in time I will be able to find a way to remove Caius from his position as an equal. Without Marcus to balance him out, I will not be able to hold off an attack indefinitely, but I would certainly be able to buy some time, likely decades or even centuries."

Carlisle was silent for a long moment as he considered Aro's proposition. It really did seem like everyone's best hope. "Our family was never precisely free of danger when you were in charge," he said carefully.

Aro's eyes brimmed with sincerity, his words overflowing with conviction as he spoke. "Carlisle, I regret a good many things about my time in Volterra. Things to which I never gave much thought previously. After killing my sister, the thing I regret most is betraying your friendship. Your family has taken me in and helped me these past weeks. I have created chaos and torn apart your happy lives," Aro cast a look in my direction as he said this, "and you have never treated me as a burden, although I know perfectly well that I've been one. Carlisle, you are a man of conscious and kindness, and your family has all striven to live by your example. It would be the most appalling act I can imagine if I were to betray you once again. You have my most solemn word that I will allow your family to live in peace no matter what."

Carlisle stared at Aro for a long time. Everyone was silent, though the wolves' heads continued to move in unison. At last, Carlisle let out a breath that he had evidently been holding. He looked to Esme for her opinion.

"I'm not certain we should trust him, but I don't see what other choice we have. Taking a chance with Aro is better than facing certain death with Caius."

Carlisle nodded, turning his head to face Edward.

"I agree with Esme. I can't tell whether Aro's thoughts are sincere," he glared at the wolves, "but he gives us a better chance of survival."

"Everyone deserves a second chance," Bella added quietly.

"It makes more strategic sense to try Aro's plan," Jasper spoke up. "Even if he betrays us, we'll have more time to make preparations."

"I can't see anything," Alice complained. "Too many wolves. I agree with the others. I don't trust Aro not to lapse back to his old ways, but I couldn't see any other options before."

The room was silent until I realized that Carlisle was looking at me. Apparently, my opinion was still valued. "Aro is everyone's best chance," I concurred.

"Even if he does betray us," Nessie said, "we know he has weak spots for some of us. We'll have more advantageous angles to work if it comes to it."

Carlisle considered what everyone had said. We were all in total agreement that Aro's plan was the only possible way out of this problem, even if it wasn't a guarantee of success. Aro seemed a little wounded by everyone's assertions that he was likely to stab us in the back as soon as he was back in power, but even he had to realize that it would be foolish for us not to consider that possibility.

"I'm sorry," Carlisle said at last. "Although I agree with what everyone has said, there is simply no way to be certain that Aro would survive another transformation. Alive, he could turn out to be a valuable bargaining chip if he is correct about Caius and the guard still being loyal to him. If it is discovered that we accidentally killed him while trying to transform him, then the Volturi will be even more incensed than before. It's not a chance we can afford to take. There is no precedent for a vampire-to-human-to-vampire transformation."

The expression "silence is deafening" came to mind. Carlisle had a point; Alice hadn't been able to see anything that would happen after the Volturi showed up, since the wolves would be present. It was impossible to say that Caius would still be intent on his plan of wiping out the wolves and my family if he saw that we had Aro. It was also impossible to say that he wouldn't be. Most importantly though, Carlisle was correct in saying that we had no way of knowing that Aro would survive another transformation. Venom was poisonous to the wolves. Perhaps it would be poisonous to one who used to be a vampire too, or perhaps an immunity to venom even existed.

"Then we're doomed," Nessie said quietly.

"Wait," I spoke up. "What if we could be sure that Aro would survive and transform like normal?" I was amazed at how slurred my voice still sounded, although I probably shouldn't have been. I had consumed just as much as the wolves had, and the roughly twenty minutes since I'd stopped drinking wasn't even close to being enough time for the effects of alcohol to wear off for me.

"If we could be certain, then Aro's plan would be our best hope," Carlisle said slowly.

"Well, then let's be certain," I said. "Test on me. Turn me. If I become a vampire, then we can turn Aro. If I die, then you can't." It was so simple.

"Emmett, no," Alice protested. "We don't know if you'd survive. Killing you is not an option."

"Absolutely not," Esme added. "That's too great of a risk. Besides, I can't bear the thought of you living forever without..." Esme's voice trailed off before she spoke Rosalie's name.

Carlisle nodded in agreement. "Emmett, I would rather see you live out your lifetime in relative happiness, even if you're forced to go into hiding, than dying here, today, simply to prove whether or not a strategy would work. We'll simply have to look into other options."

"Don't you get it?" I protested. "I don't care! What do I have to live for? Hiding at Seth and Leah's house for the rest of my life? Cleaning up the house all day and never going anywhere because I need 24/7 surveillance? Once Caius comes here and kills them, what do I do next? Move in with Tanya and fight off her advances for the rest of my life? I'll never be able to do anything productive or enjoy anything in life. I'm an artifact from an older time, and nothing is ever going to change that. I know any one of you would gladly die to save me. Let me do this for you," I pleaded. "For Rosalie."

Carlisle swallowed hard. "I'm sorry Emmett, the answer is no. You're too important to all of us."

I was too angry to hear what anyone said after that. I was lost in the fury that was pulsing in my ears. There was a legitimate chance that everyone could survive if Aro was changed again, and we could be certain whether Aro could be changed by testing the procedure on me first. I had no burning reason to want to stay alive, but Carlisle wouldn't use me as a guinea pig because he didn't _feel_ like it. There was a greater good involved here. It wasn't anything like when Bella wanted to be transformed because she thought she could help us fight off the newborn army. This was about strategy. I wasn't going to be throwing my life away on a random guess or in the hopes of being useful. I _had_ no life. I didn't fit as a human in this day and age. The only place I could possibly fit in the world was as a vampire, and if I couldn't be that, I might as well not exist.

If I couldn't be with Rosalie, I might as well not exist.

I looked at Edward to see if he'd overheard any of this. Perhaps he could talk sense into Carlisle. The wolves still seemed to be blocking him from hearing anything. Bella was gripping Edward's side with all her might, trying to keep from leaping across the table to attack me.

That's when I had the idea. It was insane, and it might get my family in trouble with the wolves, since it was technically against the terms of the new treaty. I hoped they'd let this one slide anyway. If I thought for one second that I could get away with warning Jacob and Sam to plead with them for forgiveness and sanity, I would, but the only thing keeping Edward from seeing my plan was the fact that the wolves were still singing drunkenly. Alice wouldn't be able to see either because they were here blocking her visions.

I rose slowly from my seat, trying to make the action appear nonchalant. I moved toward the stairs, hoping everyone would think that I really needed to use the restroom. It would have been believable enough, considering how much liquid I'd consumed. It was actually a good thing I was so intoxicated. I wasn't sure I'd have the guts to do this if I hadn't been.

Once I was in between the dining room table and the stairs, I took one last look at my family. From where I was now standing, the only person in between Bella and me was Carlisle. Edward was on her other side, and he wasn't actively gripping her. She was the one gripping him. I only had one shot at this. I was banking on Carlisle not reacting quickly enough. If I failed, I would probably be banned from the house until everyone was dead.

Suddenly, I had the biggest stroke of luck imaginable.

"All this sand in my shoes is really irritating," Nessie complained. She stood up and walked into the kitchen to shake out her shoes over the trash can. She had arrived later than the rest of us and hadn't removed her shoes, plus she had gone walking with Jacob on the beach. Once she reached the trash can, she removed a shoe, and with her typical level of grace, promptly lost her balance. She hopped up and down on one foot to try to steady herself, but she ended up twisting her ankle and falling to a heap on the ground instead.

"Renesmee, are you all right?" Carlisle and Edward both leapt up and appeared at her side instantly to examine her ankle.

"I'll be fine in a minute," she grumbled, embarrassed as she rubbed her leg while allowing her father and grandfather to look at it.

This was it. Now or never. This was the only chance like this I was going to get. Bella was watching on with concern, but didn't want to get in the way of the two trained medical professionals. She wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to me as I moved closer to her, nor was she paying attention to avoiding breathing. She only had enough capacity in her mind to care for her daughter and whether she had been injured.

I sat in the chair Carlisle had occupied just moments ago and raised my foot off the ground. There, embedded in the sole of my shoe, was a piece of the beer bottle I had stepped on and broken at the beach. I took a deep breath and raked my hand across it sharply.

The heads of Jasper, Alice, Edward, and Nessie all snapped up to stare at me the instant the scent of my blood had hit the air. Carlisle, ever the consummate professional, was still examining Nessie's ankle for swelling. I wasn't the slightest bit concerned about what any of them were doing. They would rescue me before I was dead, certainly, but they would be too late to stop what I was setting in motion.

Bella lunged at me before she even had time think or anyone had time to react. Her teeth were in my jugular vein, drinking in my special brand of sweet blood that had sung to her personally from the moment I became a human again. I felt the venom starting to paralyze me as the blood flowed out of my body.

**Annnnnd... End, Act II. Reviews greatly appreciated! =)**

**In the next chapter: What has Rosalie been up to? We're about to find out!**


	26. Return

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Twenty-Six – Return

I tried to pay as much attention as I could to what happened over the next couple of minutes. I knew I had only a finite amount of time before the venom would make it impossible for me to focus on anything other than the excruciating pain. That was, if it didn't kill me outright this time.

I could keep my eyes open long enough to see the first few flurries of activity. Jasper, Alice, and Esme forcibly tugged Bella away from me and kept her there while she snarled and fought to get back to her prey. Carlisle, recognizing that I was in far greater need than Nessie and her sprained ankle, was at my side in an instant. Edward, torn between remaining at his daughter's side or going to calm down his wife, settled for picking Nessie up and carrying her back to the dining room table so that he could be near both of them.

The next wave of fury happened when the wolves realized that the treaty had technically been broken. They were still not quite sober yet, so it took a few moments for this to dawn on them. It was Leah who reacted first. No big surprises there, I supposed. I had bonded with her somewhat over the past few days, and she had a temper that flared quickly. Leah burst forward to attack Bella, but Edward placed himself in front of her. That wouldn't have stopped Leah ordinarily, but since Edward also happened to be holding the imprint of her Alpha, Leah stopped a few inches short of the group, snapping her jaws wildly but refusing to attack.

"Put me down, Edward," Nessie begged. "They can't hurt me."

"I don't like this," Edward murmured.

"You don't have to like it. Just do it."

Edward set Nessie down. She winced slightly on her injured ankle, but held her position in front of her family, arms out in a protective stance. "Calm down, Leah. Give us a minute to explain," she demanded.

The others were starting to sober up enough, and one by one, they phased back to human form and pulled on shorts. Jacob was the first to step forward. "Leah, Seth has your clothes. Go phase. We're going to need to discuss this so we can all hear each other." There was no mistaking Jacob's tone of voice; this was an order. Not necessarily an Alpha order, but an order all the same.

Leah gave my family one last menacing growl before slinking back to the living room and accepting the clothes Seth handed her.

"Make no mistake, leeches. If we don't like your explanation, we've got no qualms about phasing back," Jacob glared at Bella as he spoke. "Friends or not."

Bella whimpered into Edward's chest, her eyes taking on an orangeish tinge from the human blood she'd just consumed. I guessed she hadn't drained me to the brink of death; otherwise, her eyes would have been red.

"Jasper, help me get Emmett to the couch," Carlisle said. It was around this time that I noticed my neck was on fire. Of course, Carlisle could have scooped me up and carried me to the couch himself, but he wouldn't have been able to keep tabs on my vital signs if he'd done that. He was taking my pulse the entire time Jasper carried me.

"What the _hell_ just happened?" Leah demanded.

My neck was on fire, but I could still speak, at least for the time being. "Don't be mad at Bella. I set her up. I did it on purpose. It was my decision. I want to be changed again so that we can know what will happen to Aro, so that he can save all of us. If you're going to be mad at someone, be mad at me. I knew how hard it would be for Bella to resist my blood and I took unfair advantage of that fact." Those were the last words I'd be able to speak for awhile, I knew, because the burn in my neck was starting to spread. I collapsed backward on the couch, trying not to scream.

"Is that true?" Jacob demanded, turning his steely glare to Edward.

"As far as I can tell. I couldn't hear Emmett's thoughts just before he cut his hand open because someone was regaling me with an off-key rendition of Inna Gadda Da Vida," Edward shot back.

I didn't even know Inna Gadda Da Vida _could_ be off-key. It was amazing that I could still find things to laugh about as my body was rapidly filling with liquid fire.

Jacob looked away sheepishly. That was the last thing I saw before the pain forced me to clamp my eyes shut. I didn't remember the burning hurting _this_ much before. Whether that was due to the alcohol in my system, the fact that this was the second time I was going through it, or just poor memories on my part, I couldn't be sure. I gritted my teeth as hard as I could, determined not to cry out. Maybe if the wolves didn't realize I was in pain, they'd go easier on Bella.

"Well, it's not as if Bella _planned_ to do it," Jacob's voice said.

"Oh of course you'd find a reason to get your girlfriend off the hook," hissed Leah's voice. She seemed to be moving toward my family, though obviously still in human form, given the fact that she was speaking.

"Lay off, Leah. She's not my girlfriend and she never was." Jacob again.

"Really? Because you seemed pretty unsure of that fact on the beach a little while ago," Leah retorted.

"Leah, I said _lay off_," Jacob shouted. I opened one eye a slit, just enough to see the horrified expression on Bella's face before clamping it shut again.

The burning had spread to my head and chest, and it was working its way outward toward my arms and waist. I would be fully engulfed soon, and I wouldn't stop for three solid days. Why had I wanted to do this again? Oh, right, to save my family. Was it really worth it? This pain was pretty unbearable.

Rosalie. I had done it to save Rosalie. Fine. I could endure this for her.

"Bella, he didn't mean anything by it, love," Edward was explaining. "They were playing a game. He had to drink if he'd ever been dumped. He couldn't decide if he was supposed to drink or not."

"Oh," Bella said in a small voice. "Jake..."

"Don't, Bella. We have more important things to worry about right now anyway," Jacob replied.

"Yeah, like the fact that you've _really_ been dumped now," Leah snarled. "If your little half-breed isn't willing to be your imprint anymore, then maybe we should just tear all of them apart." I guessed Happy Leah wasn't quite permanent just yet.

"That's _enough_, Leah," Jacob told her. "Nessie's still my imprint. She always will be. I'm not going to force her to do anything that makes her unhappy, and you are _way_ out of line."

"Whatever," Leah huffed. "So what do we do now? We have plans to make, remember?"

"Emmett's plan, however ill-conceived the execution may have been, changes things," Carlisle said kindly. "Alice said we had several weeks. It won't hurt for us to wait three days to see whether Emmett experiences a normal transformation."

I realized I'd been holding my breath, as if this would somehow help the pain. I took a breath and started gasping for air. Still, I was determined not to scream, no matter how badly ever inch of my body was crying out for it. I was burning, burning alive and it had only just begun.

"Emmett," Bella's voice was quiet, but right next to me. "Emmett, I'm so sorry."

_Don't be, I knew what I was doing_, I thought. Edward relayed my message now that he was no longer encumbered by the wolves' serenade. _If anyone should be sorry, it's me. I knew they'd be pissed, but I took advantage of your weakness anyway._

"It was a very dangerous thing you did," Carlisle scolded me.

_I knew you guys would save me_.

Once Edward had repeated my thoughts, Carlisle spoke again. "We might have been too late. Someone else might have attacked you instead of rescuing you. It was an enormous gamble, and we still don't know if you'll survive."

_If I don't... Consider it payment for the last eighty years._

"I should have had better self-control," Bella wailed. "I shouldn't have attacked him, even if it was what he wanted, I should have been able to resist like Edward did."

Even though my eyes were closed and no one could see it, I rolled my eyes at Bella's insanity. The wolves and my family reached an agreement not to take any further action until they could determine what would happen to me. Jacob made the executive decision not to count this incident against my family, given the extenuating circumstance of my plotting. Leah, of course, made an irritated sound at this, but there wasn't a thing she could do to override his choice.

Eventually, a pair of cold arms carried me upstairs to a bed, although I had no idea which cold arms they were or which bed I was placed into. I didn't really have the capacity to care. I was too busy burning to death. Or eternal life. Whichever. Actually, I wouldn't mind too much if I died this time, as long as I did it pretty soon. I was in agonizing pain. I needed something to think about besides the burning though.

Naturally, Edward heard me and informed the others, so everyone took shifts talking to me for a couple of hours at a time. Bella took the last shift in the hopes that the scent of my blood would have changed enough for her to be able to be alone with me. They talked about nothing important, all dancing around the one subject I most wanted to hear about. I still hadn't heard any updates from Alice about my wife, and I desperately wanted to know where she was. Had she found someone new in the last few days? What was she doing? Was she far enough away that she'd be all right if the Volturi did move against us? I hoped Edward would keep these particular worries to himself. There was no need to get everyone all worked up about my emotional state on top of the fact that I was burning all over again.

"Emmett, I know you said not to worry about it, but I am so, so sorry," Bella whimpered. "I know it was what you wanted, but I still can't believe I _attacked_ you. I could have killed you. You're still my favorite brother, you know. Jasper's great but..." Bella's voice trailed off. "Excuse me, I'll be right back."

I heard Bella's footsteps running down the stairs and then I heard her shout "What the hell do you think you're doing here? Haven't you caused enough trouble already?" Leah or one of the other wolves must have shown up. Actually, I couldn't remember hearing them go home in the first place. I had no idea how long I'd been burning for. Maybe Edward would give me an update on that soon. It felt like it had been weeks, but now that I thought about it, it couldn't have been longer than a day. Six vampires and one half-vampire had each taken a turn keeping me company for a couple of hours. I wasn't the greatest at math, but that meant it had only been fourteen hours since they started taking up shifts to talk to me. That had only been a few hours into the burning, which meant I'd been going for eighteen hours, give or take. Less than one-third of the way through. Fabulous. Well, the wolves must have gone home by now. They needed to sleep after all. Maybe Leah had come back again?

"You can_not_ go in there!" I heard Bella shouting, her voice getting closer. "Leave him alone! He's been through enough!"

Whoever Bella was talking to ignored her and flung open the door to the room I was lying in with only the force that a vampire or werewolf could muster. My senses hadn't changed over to vampire yet, so I couldn't tell from the smell which it was. Seconds later, a cold hand had grasped mine. While I appreciated Bella's concern, I couldn't imagine why she'd be holding my hand suddenly.

"Honestly, you can't do this to him," Bella called from the doorway.

Wait, if that wasn't Bella's hand in mine, then who...?

Though the burning was excruciating, I willed my fingers to move enough to explore the hand. They were the manicured, long fingernails of a female. Nessie's body temperature was warm, so that left Alice or Esme. Alice wore fake nails, her own nails having been clipped short when she was in the asylum before she was changed. These nails felt real. I couldn't think of anything Esme could have done which would result in Bella shouting at her like this though.

"Emmett, I'm so sorry," a female voice whispered to me.

Great, I was so far out of touch with reality that I had morphed Bella's apologetic voice into Rosalie's.

"Rose, this isn't the time," Bella chastised from the doorway. She was joined by another voice, Edward's.

"At least you could have waited two more days for him to be more like himself," he murmured.

"I stayed away as long as I could," Rosalie's voice snapped.

Rosalie? Was she really back? All I had to do was open my eyes to verify it, but I squeezed them shut tighter instead. If this was all my imagination, I didn't want to know it. I didn't want to open my eyes and confirm that Rosalie still wasn't here. I wanted to hang onto this hallucination awhile longer.

"Rose, you have _no idea_ what he's been through the past week!" Bella shrieked. "You rejected him. Turned him into a human. Kicked him out of his own house. He's been staying on the reservation with the Clearwaters—"

"—That explains the smell," Rosalie commented ruefully.

"In five days, he's been a pariah _and_ a martyr. He wanted to be changed back so we could confirm whether or not Aro would survive a re-transformation. We don't even know if he'll survive, and it's all your fault!" Bella finished.

"I know," Rosalie whispered, her voice full of remorse. "I did reject him, and that was a mistake. I knew it was a mistake the moment he left the garage, but when you and Alice told me what had happened to him, I knew it was too late to take it back. I'd set something in motion."

"That's what you call ruining someone's life?" Bella retorted.

"Bella, love, let your sister speak," Edward soothed her.

"Once I realized what I'd done," Rosalie continued, "I thought maybe it was for the best. Everyone's always complained about my attitude. Maybe if I didn't have Emmett to keep me here anymore, I could go off on my own and leave all of you to your happy, contented lives. Maybe one day, now that he was human, Emmett would find a nice girl worthy of his good humor and then I'd be freed from this entire life. I thought of so many reasons why it made more sense for me to leave. I didn't even want to look at Emmett that first day because I was sure as soon as I saw him, my resolve would break. I tried to stay away for good, I really did. I couldn't decide where to go or what to do. I just wandered for days until I couldn't stay away any longer. Edward, I don't know how you did it. I couldn't even make it for a week."

So... She'd rejected me, then she'd regretted it, and she'd let me go on thinking that she didn't want me _anyway_? Why hadn't she just come back? The last few days hadn't even needed to happen. My loneliness, the near-fight at the bar, the way I'd wrecked things between the wolves by giving Nessie advice that was probably wrong and caused Leah to imprint... None if it should have happened. None of it _would_ have happened if Rosalie hadn't been so stubborn.

How could someone who loved me let me go through so much alone?

My body was still burning, but now my mind was burning too. I wouldn't be going through this right now if it hadn't been for her. I should never have become a human again. If Rosalie would have thought things through for once instead of blurting out whatever came to her mind, I wouldn't be in this much agony right now.

I hoped Bella would slug her.

"I see," was all that Bella said.

She sees? What did she mean, she sees? She sees what? That Rosalie is every bit as selfish and inconsiderate as everyone ever said, but I was too blind to see? Blinded by her beauty and her gift of immortality to me, which she took away the first chance she got. She should have stood by me through thick and thin. When she realized she'd made a mistake, she should have owned up to it right away. Leaving me alone to cope with a life I didn't want and didn't understand because she thought _she_ might get something out of it was just heartless. Unforgivable.

"Rosalie," Edward spoke up. "Perhaps you should clean up, and then we can talk this over with the others."

"I'm not leaving his side," Rosalie said stubbornly.

"Rosalie, I really think it's for the best," Edward persisted.

There was a long pause, during which time I assumed Edward must have exchanged a look with my wife. "Fine," she relented. "If you'll excuse me." A moment later, I heard the shower come on down the hall.

"I'm sorry about that," Edward told me. "We tried to warn her that you weren't ready for this yet. We'll do our best to keep her away for the next two days. After that, you can speak to her on your own behalf."

I certainly had a thing or two I wanted to say to her. How could she do this to me? I was burning all over again because she didn't _feel_ like telling me she'd made a mistake in the first place. Who knew if I would have even been transformed back into a human at all if she had just told me before I went on my blood-drinking rampage that she'd been wrong? Maybe this could have all been avoided.

I burned on, reaching the eighth layer of Hell with no angel by my side.

**A/N: Remember, Emmett's burning just _might_ affect his perception of the situation ever so slightly... **


	27. Awakening

**I'm skipping over a big chunk of Emmett's burning because, well, there's little I can say on the subject that wouldn't amount to a regurgitation of Bella's experiences in Breaking Dawn. **

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Twenty-Seven - Awakening

Once the burning receded to my chest, I knew it was nearly over. My heart was about to stop beating. This was the moment of truth. If it stopped beating and I could still get up and walk around, then we knew it had worked. If it stopped beating and I never moved again, well, the others would know it hadn't worked. I wouldn't be around to care.

Rosalie hadn't left, but no one had let her come near me again. Thank goodness for small favors. I would have to confront her soon enough, but I'd rather wait until the burning had stopped. Maybe I would see things differently.

"Carlisle," Edward called out. "It's nearly finished." Edward placed a hand on my shoulder, and I noticed that it no longer felt icy. That was probably a good sign, right? It meant my body temperature matched his again.

Carlisle was in the room before Edward was even finished speaking. "It's strong. Stronger than the first time he was changed. I don't think we have any reason to believe anything has gone wrong."

Suddenly, my heart felt like it was going to soar out of my chest, and I wished it would because then the burning would be over. Just like that, it was. It was over. The burning had stopped. My heart would never beat again. _In theory, anyway_, I thought bitterly.

I opened my eyes and couldn't help laughing. Everything looked precisely the way I remembered, except that my memories hadn't done justice to the way the world looked through the eyes of a vampire. I was able to not feel distracted by the smallest details only because I had been through this once before. I sat up, pleased that I no longer felt my muscles straining from the efforts of small motions.

Jasper was present as well, standing watch to make sure I didn't attack anyone. "Aro," I asked frantically. "Where's Aro? I don't want to attack him."

"He's safe," Carlisle assured me. "Bella and Nessie are watching over him in the cabin. A couple of the wolves are there as well, just as an additional precautionary measure." I nodded. That was a good plan. "How do you feel?" Carlisle continued.

"I feel..." I flexed my arms and legs, making sure everything still worked as it was supposed to. "I feel like a newborn," I groaned. My throat was burning white-hot and my emotions were slightly out of control. Fortunately, though I didn't have a grip on myself, Jasper had the matter under control. He was able to keep me evened out, for the most part.

"Rosalie," I said flatly. She had done this to me. The lack of emotion in my voice caused Carlisle to misinterpret my statement.

"She's downstairs waiting for you. You have a lot to discuss, but I think perhaps it would be best if you went hunting first. Edward and Jasper will accompany you, of course."

I looked at Carlisle incredulously. "I have nothing to discuss with her."

Carlisle was about to speak, but a look from Edward silenced him. He took a moment to collect his thoughts, speaking only once he had received an encouraging nod from Edward. "Very well. You should still hunt immediately. Anything else can wait."

I made my way toward the window, gesturing for Edward to go first so that I wouldn't bolt off and leave them behind if I caught the wrong kind of scent. Seeing that my intentions were pure, he complied. I leaped out behind him, pausing to wait for Jasper to follow suit.

Before I'd even had time to turn around, the front door was flung open. I turned away. I had no desire to see who was doubtlessly there waiting for me.

"Emmett, wait," Rosalie called. It sounded like a command to me, although there was a hint of pleading in her voice. When I didn't immediately run away, she took that to mean that she could approach.

She was behind me in the next instant with her hand on my shoulder. "Emmett, please let me explain..."

"There's nothing to explain," I growled. "You didn't want me anymore. I became a human. I had to go through the transformation all over again, and now I'm an uncontrollable newborn. It's entirely your fault. You didn't want me, Rosalie," I repeated. "I guess you got your wish." I was silent for a moment, waiting for her to remove her hand from my shoulder. When she did, I spoke once again. "Now my wish is that I was far, far away from..."

My surroundings had changed. I was no longer standing in the front yard, surrounded by my two brothers and Rosalie. I wasn't quite sure what she was to me anymore. The word "wife" no longer seemed to fit, in light of all I'd gone through because of her. "You," I finished lamely, though no one was nearby to hear.

Where exactly was I? My surroundings didn't look entirely foreign, but it was taking some time for me to retrieve all of my memories. My previous vampire memories were still there, locked away because of the time I'd spent as a human. I strained to call them up, to figure out why this place seemed familiar to me.

It was taking awhile to bring up the correct memory. I segmented the part of my mind that was working on that, and in another part of my mind I decided to count the score once again. I had been rejected, turned into a human, forced out of my own home to live with my supposed sworn enemies, gone through the burning all over again, become a newborn, and now, inexplicably I was in the middle of nowhere. As a newborn. Where I might get into who knew what kind of trouble. All because of Rosalie.

Alaska. I was in Alaska. Very near to the Denali coven. Well, under the circumstances, going to Tanya and explaining the situation was better than taking a chance on being seen. If a couple of them could watch over me while I hunted, so much the better. I ran in the direction that I knew her house to be, trying not to breathe too much just in case some hapless human wandered too close. I was sure I had no control whatsoever right now. I was a newborn, after all.

I arrived at the house only minutes later and knocked. Tanya answered the door, a look of total shock on her face. "Emmett? What's going on? What have you done?" Oh, right. The eyes. They'd be red.

"It's not how it looks," I explained quickly. "Remember what happened to Aro? Well, it happened to me too, just a few days ago. I guess Carlisle didn't fill you in. Anyway, I'm a newborn. I need someone to take me hunting so I don't make a mistake. Kate, if she's available. She can subdue me if needed."

Tanya's face softened now that she understood I was asking for help at maintaining the vegetarian lifestyle. A look of mild panic overtook her features next. "It happened to you too? Are we all at risk?"

"No," I said quickly. "No, we learned how it happens. It's exactly what Bella speculated," I muttered bitterly.

Tanya gasped. "So Rosalie...?"

I didn't respond. "Will you please help me hunt?"

"Of course, let me just get Kate. Come in." Tanya stepped aside so I could enter. The others had heard my explanation, so Kate was already standing, ready to go with me on my first/next hunt. She and Carmen didn't look shocked by my red eyes, given what they'd heard. Eleazar, on the other hand, was openly gaping at me.

"Emmett," he said slowly. "Why did you come to us for help? Did Carlisle and the others refuse to help you?"

"No, of course not," I said. "They would never... Honestly, I'm not sure how I ended up here exactly."

Eleazar rose from the seat where he'd been playing a game of chess with Carmen. "I think I may be able to shed some light on that. Emmett, you seem to have an ability that you didn't have before."

"Ability?" No, that wasn't possible. Edward, Alice, Jasper, and Bella were the talented ones. I was just happy-go-lucky Emmett, the guy who didn't mind dealing with cruelty on a daily basis from the woman who was supposed to love him. That was my role.

"Yes," Eleazar confirmed. "I'm not sure why you should have one now when you didn't previously, but I suppose we know little about re-transformation. Emmett, you seem to be able to move yourself more rapidly than normal."

"Oh, so I can run faster? That might be kind of fun, I guess. Racing Edward." I grinned in spite of everything. Guy needed to be taken down a peg.

Eleazar shook his head. "No, I'm getting a sense from you that you can somehow move yourself across great distances in an instant. I assume you didn't intentionally transport yourself here? It would have been remarkable if you could have harnessed such a talent so quickly."

"Talent?" I repeated after Eleazar again. "No, I don't think it was anything like that. I was standing in the front yard and I said I wished I was far away and..." Oh. That _did_ actually sound a bit like an uncontrolled talent, didn't it?

Eleazar nodded knowingly. "You should be able to learn to control it better in time. For now, I suggest you go ahead and hunt. The thirst must be unbearable."

It was, but I'd been trying not to focus on it. Kate grabbed my arm and hauled me outside, careful to maintain contact with my arm at all times. "This way, if you even start to do something unpredictable, I can shock you right away," she explained. Oddly enough, I was actually grateful. Tanya trailed along behind in case I somehow managed to break free of Kate. I had no intention of trying, but it was probably better to have a backup plan. Newborns weren't exactly known for their ability to stick to a plan.

We found a moose before long, and I caught the scent of a bear in the distance. It took a little bit of begging and pleading with Kate to convince her to let me go after it. She was worried that getting too far away from the house might increase the risk of my running afoul of a human. Eventually, she relented and we went after it. Apparently, I still liked bears. That was good. I was afraid I wouldn't know who I was anymore if I had a talent, had no wife, _and_ didn't like bears anymore.

Satisfied with the hunt, we returned. "What are your plans now, Emmett? Will you be staying with us?" Tanya asked. Though she tried to hide the hope in her voice, I didn't miss it in the slightest. Did that woman ever think about anything other than sex?

"I'm not sure what my immediate plans are," I admitted. "I do need to get back to explain everything to Carlisle. They're probably worried about me. I'll figure it out after that. I think I'm just going to run home. I don't want to try to use my new talent and end up even further away."

"Of course," Tanya said, not sounding as disappointed as I'd assumed she would be. She probably realized it was too much to hope that I'd stay behind with her. "It was good to see you again. I'll give Carlisle a call once you're on your way. I'm not certain I agree with your plan to change Aro. Caius is only interested in the wolves. Carlisle doesn't need to get involved."

"They're our family too," I said stubbornly. "And by extension, your family. Sorry Tanya, but we don't turn our back on our family." I winced as soon as I'd spoken. I knew that the time when Tanya had failed to stand with us because of Irina was still a sore spot for her.

"No," Tanya said quietly. "No, I suppose you don't. Well, I will, of course, support whatever decision Carlisle makes. It doesn't mean that I won't try to talk him out of it."

"You can try," I told her. "Thanks for helping me out, Tanya, Kate." I took off toward Forks, sticking to wooded areas as much as I could and trying not to breathe. Once in awhile, I would take a tentative breath just to make sure the scents were familiar and I was still on the right track, but I dreaded what might happen if a human should be anywhere nearby.

Add "had to run all the way home from Alaska without breathing" to the tally of horrible things Rosalie had put me through.

I never wanted to see her again. I wasn't sure how I was going to deal with that once I got home, since she clearly had decided to take up residence again, but I'd cross that bridge when I came to it. Maybe I could deal with Tanya for awhile. All off a sudden, the idea didn't seem so deplorable. Sure, I had no specific interest in Tanya, but I knew it wouldn't be a problem for me to stay there at least until I got my bearings and could be trusted near humans again. So I'd just run home, talk to Carlisle, say my goodbyes, make a side trip to La Push to get my belongings...

Well, that wasn't going to work. Too many humans in La Push. I'd have to send someone else for my belongings up there. I couldn't guarantee that I wouldn't accidentally attack someone, and no matter how forgiving Jacob had been about Bella's breach of the treaty, there was no way they would forgive me for killing someone in their tribe.

Okay, so I'd run home, talk to Carlisle, say my goodbyes, send one of my brothers for my Jeep and my belongings, and then drive back to Alaska. Of course, I wasn't entirely sure either Jasper or Edward would agree to doing something that would send me further away. They might insist that I stay for a few days before they would pick up my things for me, just to buy them more time to convince me to stay.

All right, new plan. I'd run home, talk to Carlisle, say my goodbyes, call Leah and have _her_ bring my stuff. Seth would be just as bad as my family, but Leah would be perfectly content to have one less vampire in town. But then, Leah didn't carry a cell phone.

This was getting really complicated. Maybe I'd just have to rely on my family being a little more understanding than I was giving them credit for. Or maybe I could play on Bella's guilt for attacking me. That might work. She tended to try to make everything right, even when she hadn't actually done anything wrong. Whatever, I'd play it by ear once I got home. The important thing was that I wasn't staying. Period. Not if Rosalie was going to be around. She'd done enough damage.

It took several hours, and I looked awfully weird at the Canadian border when I just walked through without a car (and I almost ran out of air when negotiating my way through, despite having my passport with me), but I finally made it home. "Emmett, we were so worried about you!" Esme started making a fuss over me immediately. "We were so afraid you might have done something you'd regret."

"I'm fine, Mom. I didn't even come close to killing anyone," I assured her. "We've all got a lot to talk about though. Family meeting?"

"Of course," Carlisle said. I was surprised when only Alice, Jasper, Nessie, and my parents were present at the dining room table a moment later.

"Err... Aren't we missing some people?" I asked, confused.

"Edward and Bella are tending to another matter," Esme said uncomfortably.

"I have no plans to go charging off after Aro. Besides, you said there were wolves guarding him, and plus you guys would stop me," I said reasonably.

"Son, you were gone for several hours and you missed quite a bit," Carlisle told me.

"What do you mean? What did I miss, and what does it have to do with Edward and Bella?"

"Well, for starters, we decided it would be safest to move Aro to La Push until we could determine whether or not your transformation was normal. When you vanished, we were concerned and didn't know what to expect. He has more protection there."

I snorted. "I'll bet Leah's thrilled to have him as a roommate. If they're not watching over Aro though, why aren't Edward and Bella here?" I persisted stubbornly.

"I'll tell him," Nessie volunteered.

"That might be best," Esme agreed.

Nessie walked around the table, her hand outstretched. "May I?" she asked politely.

I rolled my eyes. "Like you need to ask, squirt." She giggled lightly, an air of discomfort to her voice, and pressed her palm to my face.

I was outside in the front yard with Edward and Jasper. This sensation was always a little strange, watching events play out from another vantage point. Nessie had seen all of this from the doorway. Rosalie approached, and I told her that I wanted to be far away. Suddenly, I vanished, and Rosalie staggered backward. She spun around, her lip trembling. "He's gone!" she cried out.

"What happened?" Jasper asked, clearly baffled.

"I have no idea," Edward replied. "He was here. He wasn't thinking anything terribly out of line with what's been going through his mind over the last three days. Alice?"

The view shifted back to inside the house as Nessie turned her head. "I'm looking for him. He's hard to find because he hasn't made a decision yet. Oh! I see him... He's on his way to Tanya's."

"Should we call Tanya?" Carlisle asked.

"No, I think it works out better if Emmett explains it to her," Alice replied. "Tanya will call us later to discuss Aro. She's not going to be happy about the plan, but she'll stand by you in the end."

"But Emmett! How is Emmett?" Rosalie shrieked, storming back through the front door.

"He's fine, Rosalie," Alice reassured her. "Tanya and Kate will take him hunting, then he'll come home. I can't see what's going to happen after that." Rosalie sank into the couch looking forlorn.

The scene flashed forward somewhat, and Rosalie suddenly stood bolt upright in a swift motion. "I need to hunt!" she shouted. Alice and Edward exchanged a quick look, and the horror on Alice's face was evident. Her eyes went glassy for a moment while she checked all of Rosalie's possible futures, then she nodded sadly at Edward.

"Bella," was all that Edward said. Bella responded instantly, appearing at Rosalie's side to help. They took Rosalie on what I knew from personal experience would be the worst hunt of her life.

Nessie pulled her hand away from my face. "I don't understand," I confessed. "Why did it happen so long after I disappeared?" Then I remembered. I had decided that I never wanted to see her again when I started running back from Alaska. "Oh," I muttered, realizing. "Well, it's what she wanted," I shrugged. "Now she can go find some hapless guy and become a baby factory and get old and die like a normal person."

"Emmett, how could you be so cold-hearted?" Alice chastised me. "She's obviously distraught."

"No, when it happened to me, _I_ was distraught. This was what she wanted. How can she complain about getting what she wanted?"

"Emmett," Jasper informed me, "it may have taken her awhile to realize it, but _you_ were what she really wanted. In the end, you were all that mattered."

"Tough break, I guess," I muttered.

Suddenly, something hit me sharply in the back of the head. It only took a half second for me to realize that it was Alice's hand. "Ow, cut it out," I complained. "Where was all this caring and consideration and indignation on _my_ behalf when it was _me_?"

"We never had much of a chance to protest on your behalf, did we?" Jasper replied, his demeanor just as cool and collected as could be. "We would have been just as unrelenting with her if she'd ever actually come home. You saw how Bella treated her when she finally did show her face again. She wasn't the only one who felt that way."

"Fair enough," I allowed. "At least I'm not kicking her out of her own home though. She can stay here as long as she wants. I'll find somewhere else to live. Tanya offered to take me in, and that seems like as good of a place for me as any, at least for the next couple of years until I'm not an uncontrollable newborn anymore."

Esme sucked in a breath. "Emmett, please reconsider," she begged. "I know you'll be in excellent hands with Tanya and the others, but I don't want my family torn apart."

"Seems Rosalie did a bang-up job of that already, doesn't it?" I shot back bitterly. "You all seem to forget that I never _asked_ for what happened to me. She asked for it, begged for it, tried to manipulate it out of me, and when I still couldn't give it to her, she turned on me. I would have moved Heaven and Earth for her, but she still had to ask me for the one thing that was impossible. Now she got what she wanted anyway. You should be happy for her, not angry with me." I paused, surveying the others. Esme was visibly distraught, while Carlisle was calmly considering my words. Jasper could see that I wasn't about to be swayed, while Alice just looked furious with me. Nessie's face was completely unreadable. She had plastered a passive expression on her face and refused to change it.

"Look, I understand that you wanted us to be one big happy family forever, Esme," I continued in a calmer tone of voice. "Can you really blame me for how I feel at this point though? Consider this from my perspective. Look at what I've been through in the past couple of weeks and what I'm going to continue to go through for the next year or two. The burning and being a newborn sucked the first time around. Can you imagine doing it again?"

Carlisle opened his mouth to offer his opinion on the topic, but Nessie surprised us all by beating him to it. "Can we just lay off of Emmett, please? Someone I love and respect very much once told me that I shouldn't put someone else's feelings ahead of my own. Why would Rosalie want Emmett to stay with her if he doesn't want to be with her anyway?"

Three days ago, my heart would have swelled with gratitude at Nessie's regurgitation of the advice I'd given her. Today, I just felt a surge of pride, which Jasper tempered quickly to keep me relatively under control. I had to admit, having him around sure made the newborn experience a little easier to stomach.

Before anyone could contribute further to the discussion, the sound of footsteps approaching my home caused me to immediately react defensively. Jasper took control of the situation before I could charge the front door, which turned out to be a good thing since it was only Edward and Bella returning.

They eased into the door carefully, Rosalie wedged in between them. Her feet weren't quite touching the ground, but she was still moving them slightly as if she thought she was propelling herself forward. Her entire body was limp, her head slumped forward so that she was completely facing the floor and her head was entirely concealed by her hair.

"Edward! Bella! Why didn't one of you carry her?" Esme scolded.

"Stubborn as always of course," Edward replied. "She didn't want to be carried. She's kept herself awake through sheer tenacity."

"Emmett!" Bella cried out, surprised. "Well, it looks like you're... The transformation took, I see." At least Bella didn't seem to be ready to rip me to shreds for what I'd done to Rosalie. She probably still felt guilty for transforming me.

"Em... mett?" Rosalie murmured faintly.

"I'm fine," I snapped. "Not that it concerns you anymore."

With a herculean effort, Rosalie began to slowly raise her head. When she couldn't quite achieve it on her own, Edward sighed and used his free arm to tilt her head upward until she was facing me.

I couldn't tell if she was trying to look proud or pathetic. What I could tell was that the moment my eyes met hers, I felt like the world's biggest heel. How could I have forgotten for even a moment that she was my Rosalie?


	28. Reunion

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Twenty-Eight - Reunion

"Rose!" I rushed forward and swept her in a fluid motion away from Edward and Bella. Bella flinched, wanting to protect Rosalie from me because she didn't recognize the epiphany I'd just had. Edward simply smiled and placed his arm around his wife's waist, lightly restraining her from attacking me.

Rosalie sighed contentedly. "Em...mett," she croaked again. Her eyes were half shut and the only reason she was still standing was because I was supporting her entire body weight in an upright position. "Now," she whispered.

"Now? Rose, do you need something? What do you need? I'll do anything. Anything, Rose," I pleaded. "Rose, I'm so sorry."

"Don't," she chastised me in a voice so quiet I could scarcely hear it again. Despite her obvious weakness and the fact that she was utterly incapable of lifting so much as a finger under her own power, I could see the fierceness behind her eyes, and I couldn't bring myself to argue with her further. "Now," she repeated urgently.

"Edward," I looked helplessly to my brother. "Edward, what does she want? Just tell me what she wants and I'll do it."

Edward sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as was his typical habit when stressed. There was something different about the pinching motion this time. He was pinching extra hard, and his fingers were closer to his eye sockets than normal. It looked like he would have happily gouged his eyeballs right out of his own skull if it would resolve the situation. "Emmett, give Rosalie to Bella for a moment please."

"No," I protested.

"She'll be fine. I need to speak to you alone. It will only take a moment." Warily, I brought my gaze back to Rosalie. She managed, with great effort, to bring up the corners of her mouth nearly imperceptibly.

"I'm not leaving, Rose," I promised. "I just need to talk to Edward about what I need to do. I'll be right back. You won't even know I'm gone." I kissed her forehead gently before passing her to Bella's waiting arms.

Edward darted out the door and disappeared before I had time to react. I was forced to chase after him by his scent, which was even easier than I remembered it to be. I caught up to him easily by taking advantage of my newborn strength, leaping twice as far as I remembered doing previously. I made a mental note to work on my new speedy travel capabilities soon. Within half a minute, we were far enough away that Edward seemed to feel comfortable conversing, and he stopped. I drew to a halt beside him.

"What's going on, Edward? What does she want?"

"Emmett, this isn't easy for me, you understand," Edward sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with the same force I'd seen at the house.

"What is it? I can take it. If she doesn't want me anymore, I understand—"

"—Emmett, have some common sense," Edward interrupted me with a snarl. "Don't you think you'd be killing every creature in the state right now if she didn't want you anymore? You're still as much a vampire as you were ten minutes ago."

I felt a faint glow in my chest. It was true then. She did want me. She was still mine.

Too bad she was going to be a human in a few short hours and there didn't seem to be a thing I could do to prevent it. I wouldn't be able to go anywhere near her for at least a year. What were we going to do? I refused to even think about what would happen when her new, fragile, shorter life ended. It was too much to imagine.

All of these thoughts occurred to me so rapidly that I hadn't even paused before speaking again, although Edward would have heard it all, of course. "Then what? What does she want?" I asked again.

"Emmett, you're a smart man. I can't believe I have to spell this out for you," Edward's voice was rapidly approaching a whine. "And I am _not_ whining," he added in a hiss. I couldn't stop myself from chuckling at his childish protest. Edward grunted. "I can see that you honestly have no idea what she wants. Very well. Can you imagine for a moment what Rosalie might want to do with you upon the resolution of the issues between the two of you ever since Aro appeared? What she might want to do right this moment before she becomes a human and you will find yourself unable to be near her for reasons you've already established in your mind?"

My mouth flew open on its own. "She can't possibly mean—Edward, you're crazy. She couldn't want physical.. err.. relations?"

Edward nodded. "That is precisely what she wants."

I drew in a breath, once again tasting the scents of the forest and all of the animals and plants surrounding me, the mud slightly counterbalancing the fragrant scents of fading blooms that would wither and die in the coming months. "Edward, I can't. It wouldn't be right."

"It's what she wants, Emmett."

"Even if that's true... She's in no condition to be able to do anything. If she changes her mind, she wouldn't be able to fight me off or even tell me. Considering how her human life ended... I can't." No matter how much the idea appealed to me of cementing our commitment to one another one final time before we would be forced to spend months apart, I couldn't take the slightest chance on further traumatizing her.

"It's what she wants," Edward repeated. "I could be mistaken about her motives, of course, but I suspect that it is for the very reason you cited that she is so determined. Her human life ended when control of her own body was taken from her. I think she'd like her vampire life to end in the opposite manner, with her calling the shots over the circumstances, with someone she loves doing her bidding instead of—"

"I get the point," I cut Edward off, irritated. The surest way to piss me off was to talk about those raging bastards who had assaulted my Rosalie so long ago. The fact that they were dead and buried, killed at Rosalie's own hands mere days after the incident, did nothing to prevent me from wanting to tear them limb from limb. If I could dig up their bodies and resurrect them so I could kill each and every one of them all over again, I would do it with a smile.

"Emmett," Edward spoke in a soothing tone, "try to remain calm. I know it's difficult for you."

I forced myself to breathe deeply and think about anything else but those horrible scumbags who never deserved to live. The first image that came to my mind was of the wolves bobbing their heads in unison while having a silent group sing-a-long. That was funny enough to take my mind off things.

"It wasn't entirely silent for all of us," Edward muttered. "You know that I typically do everything I can to avoid hearing the thoughts of others when you are... intimate with one another," he went back to the topic at hand, seeing that I was under control for the time being. "However, I can see that you are very concerned about violating Rosalie's wishes. Under the circumstances and given everything the two of you have been through, if you prefer, I could make an exception," he offered. I couldn't remember seeing him looking so pained except for the times when Bella's life had been in danger.

"You'd do that for me?" I said incredulously. I knew that Edward would rather be doing any number of things on the planet, up to and including pulling his own toenails out with a pair of pliers, rather than listening to Rosalie and I while we were having a private moment.

"I would come rushing to her rescue if she called for me mentally. I would otherwise try not to pay you any mind," he answered reluctantly.

"This is really important to her, isn't it?" I asked. I already knew the answer. Edward would never offer to listen in if it wasn't.

"More than I can begin to understand," Edward told me. "She is nearly frantic in her insistence."

I set my jaw in determination. "If that's what my Rosalie wants. I'll tell her to scream as loud as she can in her mind if she needs you, okay? She can yell for you pretty loudly, can't she?"

"After meeting Bella, I spent many days in Forks High School scarcely able to hear anything but Rosalie's tirades about how badly I'd ruined her life even when she was two buildings over," Edward confirmed.

"Okay," I took a deep breath. "I don't think there's much time. How long did it take me to become a human once I reached this point?"

"It's hard to say for certain, because you eventually passed out and she has yet to do so. Once you lost consciousness, it was around six hours before you were fully human. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say she likely has around that much time remaining. Perhaps less, perhaps more."

"Before I was _fully_ human?"

"It wasn't unlike the process of transforming to a vampire, except more rapid and, I suppose, less painful. You changed gradually. You began to have the faintest of human scents approximately one hour after you passed out."

"So there isn't much time," I murmured. "I don't know if she's safe from me once she even starts to smell human."

"You didn't have problems around my daughter," Edward reminded me. "Alice will know if you're about to attack her," he added for good measure.

"True. All right, let's get back," I agreed at last. What my Rosalie wants, my Rosalie gets. I felt a little strange knowing that Edward was going to be listening in and Alice was going to be watching, but what choice did I really have? I couldn't live with myself if I hurt Rose in any way. I needed both of them to make sure I didn't cross a line or attack her.

Once back inside, I carefully took Rosalie back into my arms from Bella, who hadn't moved an inch from where we'd left her. I was able to easily support her weight in my left arm. With my free arm, I gently tilted her chin up to look into her eyes. Even though it was too much of a strain for her to be able to change her facial expression, her eyes told me that she was delighted to be back in my arms. She wanted to spend these last moments of the life she'd never wanted with the person who had made it worth living.

Her lips were parted slightly due to the limpness of her body. Regardless of the reason, the invitation was irresistible. Still supporting her chin with my hand, I leaned my head downward and planted two gentle kisses on each corner of her lips. I pulled backward after a moment, looking into her eyes to make sure that she was comfortable with what I'd done. When I saw the love reflected there, I leaned back in and slowly kissed her again.

I couldn't believe my good fortune. I'd come full circle. I'd had the most beautiful and incredible woman who ever lived, then I'd lost her, and now she was mine all over again. I made a solemn vow to myself in that moment. I would give her anything she wanted, anytime she wanted it. I would overcome any obstacle to make sure that my Rosalie was never upset again. It might be challenging for us to be together while I was a newborn and she was a human, but I would find a way.

Jasper cleared his throat, reminding me that I was still standing in the living room with my entire family watching. I had completely lost track of the fact that they were there, lost as I was in my love for my wife. I probably should have been embarrassed.

I wasn't.

Nevertheless, out of consideration for the others, I pulled my face away from Rosalie's once more. She looked very disappointed. I lightly drew my hand away from her face, allowing her head to tilt back to its downward position. In a swift motion, I repositioned both arms to lift her off the ground. Without a word to my family, I carried her up the stairs. Behind me, I could hear Edward whispering to Alice in a voice too quiet for me to understand from across the room. I was sure he was explaining the situation to her.

"Oh!" Alice called as I made my way upstairs. "Emmett, umm, you'd better use our room."

I started to ask why, but I realized that I didn't care. If Alice said we should use her room, we'd use her room. I was in a dreamlike state as I made my way to Alice and Jasper's room and delicately placed Rosalie on the bed. I shut the door behind me and laid down beside her on the bed, propping my head up with my elbow. Tenderly, I brushed a lock of hair away from her forehead so that I could see her entire face unencumbered.

"Rose," I whispered, "are you sure this is what you want?"

Slowly, deliberately, Rosalie lowered her eyelids in a light flutter, then reopened them.

"Once means yes, right?" I asked cautiously. She blinked again. How could such a simple motion be so seductive? "Just so you know, Edward's going to be listening for you to scream for help. If you need it, just shout for him in your mind as loudly as you can, okay? He'll have the whole family up here in an instant if you need it."

She didn't react at all, but her eyes were still intelligent, comprehending. I knew that she had understood, even if she lacked the ability to respond physically.

"If you love something, let it go," I murmured. "If it comes back to you, it's yours forever." I reached for her shirt, trying to carefully undo the top button. I had forgotten how strong I'd be as a newborn. Instead of suavely unbuttoning her shirt, I ripped the entire thing to shreds with the slightest jerk of my hand. Down the hall, I could hear someone rummaging through Rosalie's closet and humming loudly to herself to drown out any unexpected noises.

Well, at least now I knew why Alice had told me to use her room.

I also knew I didn't have to be careful with the rest of Rosalie's clothes.

* * *

I didn't know how much time had passed, but I knew the moment Rosalie wasn't going to be able to remain conscious anymore no matter how stubborn she was. She was also shivering with a coldness I recalled all too clearly, and I didn't want to subject her to my ice-cold body any longer. I wrapped her up in every blanket Alice and Jasper owned and kissed her forehead.

"Get some rest, Rose," I told her. Her eyes were panicked when she looked back up at me. She was fighting to keep her eyelids open. "I'm not going anywhere," I assured her. At last, her eyelids drooped closed. She was already beginning to smell more human than Nessie did, and that was all the more reason for me to get out of here. My throat was starting to burn, and I had to go feed again, regardless of the fact that I'd eaten only hours before. I dressed rapidly, managing not to tear my clothes now that I remembered my own strength. The door clicked slightly when I opened it, and Alice raced up the stairs with a dress slung over her arm.

"I'll take it from here," she told me. "You go with Carlisle and Edward to hunt. There aren't any bears nearby, sorry."

I chuckled and stepped aside to let Alice dress Rosalie. "Be careful, she's getting very cold," I cautioned her.

Carlisle and Edward were already aware of the plan and were waiting for me when I reached the bottom of the stairs. They were both too polite to make any remarks about what had just taken place, but Jasper and Nessie were both concealing snickers behind their hands. I didn't care. They could snicker all they wanted. There was absolutely nothing that could ruin my mood now.

I drifted outside behind my father and brother as if on a cloud, dancing instead of running, leaping instead of jumping. I did a little twirl once we were a good distance into the woods. Carlisle was smiling, but his jovial expression seemed strained. I glanced at Edward and got the distinct impression that they were communicating, although the conversation would be one-sided.

"All right, what is it? How are you guys going to rain on my parade?" I asked.

Edward sighed. Carlisle was more diplomatic, but he squared his shoulders as if steeling himself for an uncomfortable discussion. "Emmett, we're all very happy that you and Rosalie are on good terms again, but have you given any thought to what happens next?" Carlisle asked me carefully.

"I know it'll be hard for me to be around her for a year or so, but I'll figure it out," I told him.

Carlisle and Edward exchanged a look.

"Emmett, there are some other factors you need to consider," Edward told me. "The idea of having a limit on my time with Bella was daunting, but it was never really necessary. Bella wanted to be a vampire, and it was truly only a matter of time before that happened. Rosalie has no desire to be changed again, as you know. It is her wish to be a mother, to grow old, and one day she will—"

"I don't want to talk about that," I snapped. "That's years from now."

"Very well," Carlisle said, "but we'd like you to fully consider the choices you're making."

"I didn't make any choices," I replied. "Love works that way."

"As I know all too well," Edward reflected.

"There is something else," Carlisle was clearly uncomfortable. I couldn't imagine anything that might make my father uncomfortable. He had seen and done it all.

I was no longer leaping, dancing, or twirling as I moved easily through the trees, batting branches out of my face and crunching leaves beneath my feet. I'd become a hunter, and I'd caught the scent of something nearby. I really didn't care much what Carlisle had to say right now, and he must have realized that when he stopped speaking.

"You should tell him," Edward said. "He's likely to take the information better now while he's distracted." I couldn't conceive of any information that would upset me now. I was back to my old self. Unflappable. Happy.

"Emmett..." Carlisle began. I continued chasing after the scent I'd detected. My memories were coming rushing back to me. There was a mountain lion nearby. _Sorry Edward. It's mine. _"I'm not quite sure how to tell you this..." Carlisle continued.

"Just tell him," Edward repeated. "Like ripping off a band-aid."

Carlisle slowed down, but I wasn't about to reduce my pace to match. I had caught the scent of my prey and I was going after it, news or no news. In any event, Carlisle couldn't possibly have any news that would be so difficult to spit out.

"Fine," Edward grumbled. "Emmett, Carlisle is terrified to tell you this, but he considered and anticipated all sorts of possibilities. He collected a sample from you before you were transformed again."

Now why was that so hard for Carlisle to say? He was a doctor. He collected blood samples from people all the time. I kept up the chase after the lion.

"Not a blood sample, Emmett," Edward chose his words carefully.

Whatever. Skin sample. Hair sample. I really didn't care. That lion was on the move and I had to catch it.

"Neither of those either," Edward told me.

I saw the mountain lion in the distance and moved faster to close in. Nothing was going to stop me now.

"Emmett, it is possible for Rosalie to conceive a fully human child that belongs to both of you," Edward finished.

I froze in my tracks.

That would do it.

I turned to face my brother as the mountain lion ran away, rightfully terrified of the strange predator's scent it had detected.

"_What_? But how... No, no, no," I added quickly, "scratch that, don't. Just don't. Edward, promise me you will _never_ tell me the details of how Carlisle obtained that sample. Seriously. Never."

Edward's mouth twitched in the slightest of smiles. "Very well. I will say only that your intoxication at the time prevented you from being quite as observant as you would normally be."

"Dah-dah-dah," I shouted, clamping my hands over my ears. "I don't want to know!"

Carlisle finally caught up, his expression panicked. My hands were still over my ears and I was humming loudly to myself as Edward caught him up on the situation. Carlisle laughed, and I cautiously removed my hands from my ears.

"I think I can handle that condition," Carlisle assured me. "We thought you should know that the sample exists."

"How soon will you be able to... use it?" I asked.

"It would be best if we waited at least several months for Rosalie's normal body rhythms to resume. We'll need to monitor her fertility cycle closely and it would probably be useful to get her on medication that would help, since we have a limited sample available to us. I see no reason why we shouldn't be able to proceed within the year if you are both agreeable to it. At the same time, there is no reason to rush," Carlisle's voice had slipped into clinical doctor mode, though it was tinged with relief that I hadn't torn anyone limb from limb.

I exhaled out of my mouth, puffing out my cheeks as I did so. "Well, it's something I'll need to discuss with her when she's feeling up to it," I said.

Carlisle shifted his weight uncomfortably. Now what?

"We actually thought it might be best if Carlisle went over the options with her," Edward told me quietly. "We truly don't think it's a good idea for you to be near her unsupervised until you are in better control."

"I've been pretty controlled!" I protested. "More than I was the first time. I think because I already know from experience that these urges can be overcome."

"Be that as it may," Carlisle spoke up, "we don't want to take any unnecessary risks while you're still a newborn."

I growled involuntarily. They were trying to keep me from my mate. I lunged forward, and it took both Carlisle and Edward working together to restrain me.

"Would you want something like this to happen while Rosalie is nearby?" Edward asked calmly.

I straightened immediately. The thought filled me with sheer terror. All right, maybe they had a point. "But how are we going to work this out then? I can't exactly go back and live with Seth and Leah again," I pointed out.

"We've discussed some options," Carlisle said. "We don't expect to encounter the same sort of problem with Rosalie that we did with you, so she can stay safely with Edward and Bella in the cabin until a more permanent solution can be devised."

I wasn't especially happy with that option, but it did make a degree of sense. Everything had seemed so simple a few minutes ago. I had Rosalie back, and my life was returning to normal. Now, suddenly, I wasn't allowed to go near my wife and wouldn't be allowed to for some time. I might be a father soon, too. Had it really only been a couple of weeks since I thought nothing would ever change in my family?


	29. Trust

**Shorter than normal chapter, I know. I haven't been updating as quickly as I'd like lately, and I really just wanted to get _something_ up. I should have another full-length chapter up this weekend!**

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Twenty-Nine - Trust

In the days that followed, I was permitted to communicate with Rosalie only over the phone and via computer. It was heartbreaking. She was such a short distance away. I could run there in a couple of minutes, but I wasn't allowed to. Even worse, she wanted to see me as badly as I wanted to see her. I could tell from the sound of her voice.

What surprised me the most about our conversations, though, was how she always seemed to steer the subject away whenever I would try to discuss the options that were available now. I couldn't comprehend this at all. Rosalie had wanted children since even before she'd become a vampire. Now that she had options before her, I couldn't believe she wasn't jumping at the chance, making excited plans, and picking out furnishings for the nursery she would build. When I tried to get her to explain why she wasn't thrilled, she would just say flippantly that there was too much to take in right now. I supposed I could understand that, to an extent. Turning human had been a big pill to swallow.

Carlisle was holding off on turning Aro until he'd had a few more days to observe me to be sure that I behaved as closely to a normal vampire as could be expected. I was definitely _far_ more controlled than I'd been my first time as a newborn. The fact that I now had an additional ability was disconcerting for everyone. Aro worried that he would no longer have his power once he was changed again, which tended to throw a pretty heinous wrench into his plan of re-integrating into the Volturi. Carlisle tried to reassure him; Caius didn't have any special powers and neither did some of the members of the guard. Still, Aro was nearly inconsolable. Or so I'd heard. I wasn't allowed near him either.

Nessie had taken to staying in the main house, since there were two humans who needed the beds at the cabin. The wolves and the remaining 6 members of my family had coordinated shifts to make sure that the humans stayed guarded. I never asked precisely who they were being guarded from, but I had a sneaking suspicion that it was me.

I was too busy to feel bothered by this revelation. When I wasn't on the phone with Rosalie, being examined by Carlisle for any abnormalities, or hunting, I was trying to work on my newfound ability. It was slow going. I had absolutely no idea how to control it. I would stare at a space that I wanted to occupy and concentrate. A few days before, when I'd been human, focusing on something that hard would have given me a headache and turned my face blue. Now, all it did was nothing.

Sometimes Nessie or Jasper would sit outside to watch me practice. Nessie would offer words of encouragement ("Oh hey, Emmett, I think I saw your whole body blink for a second! You're making great progress!"), while Jasper would offer good-natured taunts and jeers ("Aw come on, you can do better than that. It's just a couple feet in front of you. Stop getting so frustrated, you're psyching yourself out!"). Neither method of motivation was especially effective. Despite Nessie's insistence that I was improving, I had been completely unable to duplicate the feat I'd performed in my first few minutes after transforming. If Eleazar hadn't told me for certain that it was a gift, I would have been convinced by now that it was just a fluke occurrence, some completely unexplainable force of nature, which had led me to vanish and reappear hundreds of miles away.

On this particular day, I had no audience, so I felt perfectly free to mutter to myself without looking foolish. Nessie had gone for a walk with Jacob, who was still taking the whole "seeing other people" idea like a champ, and Jasper was on "guard the humans" duty with Alice. As much as I would have loved to have been chatting with Rosalie, she needed a fair amount of human time, and I was happy to respect her needs.

"Okay, Emmett, we can do this," I gave myself a pep talk, staring at the space between two trees where I'd been trying for days to teleport. Half an hour later, when I still hadn't moved so much as an inch, I tried a different approach. "Dammit, Emmett, if you don't do this, I'm going to punch you," I threatened. When nothing happened after another half hour, I punched myself in the face as hard as I could. "I warned you!" I shouted.

A soft chuckle from the doorway of the house caused me to whirl around and drop into a crouch without thinking. I straightened when I realized it was Edward.

"How much of that did you see?" I moaned.

"Enough to know that I don't really want to cross you. You seem to follow through on your threats."

"Yeah, well... Nothing else was working," I grumbled. "I don't get it. I've been at this for days. I did it once. I don't know why I can't do it now." I sauntered over to Edward and sat on the porch steps to take a break. It wasn't so much that I _needed_ a break, not physically anyway. My mind was just utterly exhausted from trying repeatedly and being disappointed every time.

"I'm not certain I'm the best person to talk to about how to utilize your skills," Edward remarked.

That was probably true. He just did what he did naturally. He didn't have to think about it or put anything into action, and in fact, he couldn't purposefully block it out if he tried. Taking that into consideration, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that there was such a learning curve on what I could do. It would be pretty freaky if I was teleporting around all over the place without trying to.

Edward chuckled again. "Yes, that would be inconvenient," he agreed. "I do have one theory. The time you were able to successfully use your capability, you wanted _desperately_ to be far away. You didn't just coach yourself to want it. You truly wanted it with every fiber of your being. Somehow, I doubt that occupying the space between those two trees holds much meaning to you."

"No, it doesn't," I agreed readily. "I don't really have a tree fetish." So I needed to think of something that would motivate me further? Well, the only thing I _truly_ wanted was to be near Rosalie, but that had been deemed a monumentally horrible idea by everyone. Still... What if she wanted me around as badly as I wanted to be there? I didn't know if I could hold out much longer as it was. If I knew that she wanted the same thing... I looked to Edward for guidance.

"I don't know," he said quietly.

"I'm not asking you to take responsibility for my decisions, Edward. I'm just asking you what she wants."

"I don't know," he repeated each word individually.

I had misunderstood. I had taken his initial "I don't know" as a form of hesitation, when in reality, he was telling me that he didn't know how Rosalie felt.

"Bella's still shielding her?" I cried incredulously. "Come on, what more could she want? She's already human. She can't be plotting anything else!" I began to panic. "What more could she possibly want to hide from you?"

"It isn't just her," Edward sighed. "A few hours after Rosalie became human, my daughter's thoughts disappeared as well, and finally Jacob's shortly after that."

I sucked in a sharp breath. "You don't think there's anything wrong with your mind-reading, do you?"

"I had considered that possibility," Edward allowed cautiously. "I have no difficulty with Aro's thoughts though, nor with yours, or Carlisle's, or Jasper's, or anyone other than my wife, your wife, my daughter, and her wolf."

"Has the world gone insane?" Honestly, unless Rosalie was planning to leave me again, I didn't know what she could possibly have up her sleeve at this point. I froze, turning that thought over in my head. Maybe she wanted us to both grow old together, and she was trying to figure out a way to make that happen. I groaned inwardly. I didn't think I could take being abandoned by her again, no matter what the end result might be. This was far too much drama to throw at me in far too short of a time. I wasn't used to being the angsty one. I much preferred to be the passive observer, watching the drama unfold while subjecting everyone to my various witty remarks.

Edward snorted. "Your remarks aren't that witty."

"Hey, I'm full of mad wit," I retorted. "Why, in some circles, I'm known as Emmett the Wit."

"What circles are those?" Edward grinned crookedly.

I scratched a circle around myself in the concrete. "This one!"

Edward examined my artwork with a critical eye. "Looks more like an oblong to me."

"What are you talking about? That's a perfect circle. It's just that you're looking at it from an angle. If you were standing here, you'd see the perfection," I informed him.

Edward rose and moved fluidly toward where I sat. I scooted to one side to allow him to stand in the center and admire my handiwork properly. "Emmett, in all of the times we've been through high school, did you ever pay attention during geometry class at all? Are you quite certain you know what a circle looks like?"

"Yes, it looks like this, and you're standing dead in the middle of the circle where I'm known as Emmett the Wit, so I'd appreciate it if you'd address me as such," I shot back.

"Well, I'm not sure how much it looks like a circle, but I do know that you're going to get a good look at what a tongue-lashing looks like when Esme sees what you've done to her porch steps." Edward quirked an eyebrow, waiting for my horrified reaction.

I didn't disappoint. "Crap! I didn't even think about that. Esme's going to kill me," I wailed. Sure, I was a big tough newborn, but that didn't stop me from being scared of whatever punishment my mother would come up with. No matter how old one gets to be, one never stops fearing their mother's wrath.

"Looks like she has some labor available for the addition she's been wanting to build onto the house," Edward commented.

"Addition?" This, I hadn't heard about.

"She hasn't actually mentioned it yet, but she's spent quite a bit of time thinking about it," he informed me. "I'm sure you've noticed that Bella, Renesmee, and I have been spending more time here than at the cabin in the last year or so."

"Honeymoon finally over?" I winked.

"Hardly," Edward smiled devilishly. "All the same, we do not require as much 'alone time' as we once did, and we do enjoy the company of the rest of the family. Esme has been thinking that, since we seem to be staying in Forks for the foreseeable future, it might be nice for Renesmee to have a room of her own where she can sleep, store her clothes, and so forth rather than simply keeping a few things in my old room."

"Oh, that makes a lot of sense actually," I agreed. "Although I'm not sure about the timing. I mean, we really don't know how things are going to turn out now with Rosalie. She has a lot of decisions to make, and now she's hiding something major from you—Hey, wait a minute!" I accused. "You've just been trying to distract me from getting worked up about what she's plotting, haven't you?"

"It was working remarkably well until now."

I narrowed my eyes at my brother. For his part, he wore a perfectly serene expression, arms relaxed at his side. We might have been sitting around discussing the weather or the fauna for all the excitement he was displaying. "Aren't you at all concerned that Bella is hiding the thoughts of half the family from you?"

"I trust Bella's judgment," Edward shrugged. "I am not a perfect man, Emmett—"

"—The Wit," I interjected.

Edward glowered at me for a moment before continuing. "I will freely admit to having made a number of mistakes when I first began to court Bella. Nearly all of those mistakes revolved around failing to trust her judgment. I may be a slow learner, but it would seem that I can be taught eventually," he grinned again.

"So that's it?" I growled. "I don't get to find out what my wife is hiding because you trust Bella's judgment?"

"Perhaps you should learn to trust Rosalie's judgment as well," Edward remarked.

"Yes, because that's worked out so well for me the past couple of weeks," I answered tersely.

"Actually, I believe you'll find it has." With that, Edward turned and went back inside, leaving Emmett the Wit to sit alone with his thoughts.

Had things really worked out? I thought back to how life had been weeks ago, before Aro had vanished from Alice's vision. We were one big happy family. Rosalie wasn't _happy_, exactly, but she was close. Now though, I could hear the possibilities in her voice, even if she wasn't ready to talk about them yet. She perpetually sounded like someone who was on the verge of discovering or doing something phenomenal and was holding back only for fear of taking the next leap.

It wasn't just Rosalie whose life had improved either. As a direct result of what had happened to me, I'd opened up a pathway to happiness for Nessie. Weeks ago, she'd been on the precipice of quietly resigning herself to a life she hadn't chosen. She may still choose Jacob in time, but now she knew that she had other options. Jacob didn't actually seem bothered at all about her choices, so no one was really damaged by this particular change.

Leah, too, had been changed for the better. If Nessie had never gone on a date with Josh, Leah might never have met Isaac, and her life may never have begun to make sense again. Leah would always be Leah, of course. She'd always be headstrong and short-tempered, and the damage that Sam had done to her was a scar she would always carry with her. Now though, she had something other than bitterness and loss to focus her attentions. She had hope.

Because of what had happened, relations between my family and the wolves was better than ever. Bella's minor slip hadn't been held against us, since I'd taken full responsibility for it. We were permitted to come and go to La Push as we pleased, and the pack had placed its faith in Carlisle's judgment. Yet another thing which may never have happened without my five-day stint as a human.

If all of those things weren't enough, there existed a very real possibility that we might not need to live in fear of the Volturi any longer soon. Aro had grown to care for us and respect us, and more importantly, he'd grown to understand the consequences of his actions. His remorse would never undo the atrocities he'd already committed, but he could begin to atone for his past misdeeds. I _still_ wasn't sure we could trust him to be true to his word. Once he was back in Volterra, who knew if he might slip right back into his old habits in a matter of months or years? All the same, there was a _chance_ that our kind could finally have benevolent rulers who punished wrongdoers instead of wrongly accusing. That was more than we'd ever had before.

All of these things had come about because of Rosalie's judgment.

Edward was right. I needed to try to trust her.


	30. Secret

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Thirty - Secret

I was starting to sink into a fairly comfortable, if not ideal, routine. It had been about a week since I'd been re-transformed, and Carlisle was finally feeling confident enough in my normalcy to change Aro as well. I had requested to be present when Aro arrived so that I could prove to everyone that I was perfectly capable of handling myself around humans. Carlisle had agreed, so long as every full-vampire member of the family was available to fight me off if need be. This meant Rosalie was being left in the care of Nessie and the wolves, but that was perfectly fine with everyone. Rosalie didn't even mind the wolves now that she couldn't smell them.

Aro had surprised everyone when he announced that he was nervous about his own re-transformation. He had lived for three millennia as a vampire, after all, and he'd only been human again for a few weeks, so it didn't make sense that he'd be nervous about returning to his "true nature." From what Edward was able to pick out of his mind, he was concerned that he might not have his power, that he might not be accepted back into the fold at Volterra, and that he'd have nothing to live for anymore. Carlisle's response to Aro's concerns was even more shocking than Aro's proclamation. He invited Aro to return to us and stay with our family if, for any reason, he wasn't comfortable in Volterra.

"I thought the whole purpose of this was to get Aro back with the Volturi to keep Caius from slaughtering us all," I grumbled when I received the latest news. I was outside for what felt like the millionth time, still trying to hone my new skills. Still zero success, but I was no quitter. I had a talent now and plenty of time to work on it. I was going to master it or die trying. Well, maybe I wouldn't die trying, but I'd sure get mentally exhausted trying.

"True," Nessie replied, watching my efforts with mild interest. "Carlisle feels it's a win-win scenario though. If Aro isn't welcomed back to Volterra, they'll either kill him on the spot, in which case we're no worse off than we already were, or they still won't _want_ him dead, in which case it'll be good to have him on our side when Caius comes to storm the place. And, of course, if he _is_ welcomed back, he'll buy us time until he can figure out how to depose Caius."

"So the only way this turns out badly for us is if Caius decides to slaughter Aro the moment he sets foot into the compound?"

Nessie shrugged. "That's the way Carlisle sees it. Edward thinks that's the least likely outcome, and Jasper agrees. They obviously have more insight into how Aro thinks and feels about the Volturi than the rest of us, so they're probably most qualified to make judgments. This is more likely to work than it is to not work, which is a good thing since it's the only shot we've been able to come up with." Nessie seemed distracted, constantly looking off into the distance while she spoke.

"I'm not keeping you from anything, am I?" I asked. "You don't have to hang out and watch me if you don't want to."

"No, not at all," Nessie replied quickly. "It's just... I have plans with Jacob this afternoon, and he was supposed to be here waiting for me when I got home from school. It's not like him to be late."

"Probably finalizing plans with the pack for who's going to be guarding Rose from me later tonight while Aro's being turned," I remarked bitterly. "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," I added more kindly. After all, it wasn't Nessie's fault that I was banned from seeing my wife.

"Yeah, probably," Nessie allowed nervously. "We sort of need to be finished before all that happens though, since I'm supposed to be with Rosalie too."

I rolled my eyes impatiently. By now, I'd completely lost focus with my attempts to occupy the space between the two trees. "Nessie, I'm pretty sure you'll live if you don't get to spend one afternoon with Jacob. Besides, I thought you were seeing Josh Weber anyway. Doesn't it bother him that you spend so much time with another man?"

Nessie grinned sheepishly. "What Josh doesn't know won't hurt him. It's not like I'm doing anything _wrong_. The stuff I need to do with Jake, I'd do with Josh if I could..." Out of my peripheral vision, I saw her immediately clamp both hands over her mouth as if she'd accidentally blurted out a forbidden secret. I spun around to face my niece. Her expression was panicked, and she was breathing slowly in an effort to calm herself down.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, trying to keep my voice even. Did this have something to do with why her thoughts, along with Rosalie's, were hidden from Edward?

"Nothing," she said quickly. "Just that Josh isn't as sturdy as Jake. Lots of pitfalls in the forest you know." She refused to meet my eyes, which clued me in to the fact that she wasn't telling me the whole truth.

"Sure," I agreed readily. "What is it you two do out there that has to be done in the forest?"

"Nature stuff," she replied, her voice projecting a tone of finality which let me know that I wasn't going to get any more out of her than this. Time to change my approach.

"So, you mentioned Edward having a line to Aro's thoughts," I began slowly.

Nessie rolled her eyes at me. "Duh," she said, although she tugged uncomfortably at the bottom of her shirt before scanning in the distance again to see if Jacob was approaching. Alice would not approve. Silk shirts were not meant to be manhandled.

"Yeah, of course, Edward can hear everyone's thoughts except Bella's. Although, he mentioned something interesting to me a few days ago," I continued casually.

"Oh? What's that?" Nessie's voice quivered. She knew exactly what I was about to say.

"It seems that he can't hear Rosalie's thoughts either." I paused long enough for Nessie to let her guard down. It worked. She sighed with relief before I continued. "Now, that wouldn't be so unusual in itself, I suppose. Your mother had been shielding Rosalie from Edward for a little while before all this madness happened. Maybe the two of them just got used to it. Maybe Rosalie liked the relief from your dad's constant intrusions, and maybe Bella found that after awhile it was like second nature to shield Rose."

Nessie tensed up again. "Maybe," she replied carefully, trying to control her voice and failing. It was half an octave higher than it normally would be.

"There's more to it than that though," I added. Abandoning all premise of trying to remain cool and collected, Nessie rose to her feet and began to back slowly toward the front door of the house. I ran at my full newborn speed to block her entrance into the doorway, startling her in the process. She practically jumped out of her skin, and for the second time, she clamped both hands over her mouth. This time, I was certain that the action was meant to stop herself from letting out a yelp of surprise.

"The strangest part," I continued calmly, "is that apparently he can't hear your thoughts either. Do you know anything about that?"

"Do I know anything about why my mother decided to shield me?" Nessie laughed uncomfortably. She was a really bad actress. "Maybe you'd better ask Bella. It's not like I have any control over her powers. Maybe it's just easier for her to shield everyone in proximity rather than picking and choosing targets."

"I don't think that's it," I went on, taking a step toward Nessie. I knew I looked extremely menacing right now with my blazing red eyes, and although Nessie must surely know that I would never hurt her, I meant to take advantage of my present appearance and the fear it would instill in my niece. I wasn't exactly playing fair, but I was desperate. Yes, I wanted to trust Rosalie as Edward had suggested, but being left in the dark and being unable to even see her was driving me slowly mad. Adding to all of this the fact that I had been trying without success for a week to use my new talent, and it was remarkable that I still had any self-control at all.

"You see," I continued, letting my hands form casually into a claw-like formation while still keeping my arms at my sides, "Edward can still hear Aro's thoughts. Now why do you suppose it is that your mother is making the effort to block Rosalie's thoughts and your thoughts, but not Aro's thoughts?"

"Girl stuff!" Nessie cried out desperately. "It's girl stuff. Rose doesn't want Edward to hear about it; she's too embarrassed. She's going through some... stuff since she's human again, and she doesn't know how to handle it all, and she had to confide in somebody so she talks to me and my mom."

I took a step back again, considering Nessie's words. "Well, that makes sense," I mumbled, watching Nessie's reaction closely. Once again, she sighed, but it was the sigh of someone who was relieved they were getting away with something. I pressed on. "But then why wouldn't Rose talk to Alice or Esme? Why only you two?" I was still hiding an ace up my sleeve, and I wasn't prepared to pull it out until I had to. So far, I hadn't said a word to indicate that I knew that Jacob's thoughts were hidden too.

"Alice doesn't remember anything about being human," Nessie said immediately, as if she'd been rehearsing this line for some time. I didn't fully understand that. If she'd been rehearsing her story, why had she had so much difficulty initially? Maybe she hadn't expected to have to switch strategies so quickly. "I don't know why she doesn't want to talk to Esme. Maybe she's afraid Esme will send Carlisle over to run tests that she doesn't want."

"Well if something's wrong, maybe she needs tests," I said reasonably.

"I don't think anything's wrong," Nessie replied. "She just needs, um, moral support I guess. From girls, not necessarily from her husband," she added quickly.

"From girls, huh?" Nessie nodded confidently. "Is there something Jacob hasn't been telling us?"

I felt like I could watch Nessie's heart sink. She quickly rearranged her facial expression to one of surprise. "Bella's hiding Jacob too? That's weird."

"Sure is. But you don't know anything about it, do you?"

"I'm afraid I don't," Nessie said flippantly, trying and failing to hide the tremble in her voice.

"Well, maybe Jacob knows what it's all about. I think I'll talk to him when he gets here."

"No!" Nessie protested. "We have to do our... nature stuff right away! There's no time for an interrogation."

"Secret nature stuff that you have to do with Jacob, because it requires someone sturdier than Josh, but you can't do it with any of the seven vampires you live with?" I quirked an eyebrow. "Seems like you're hiding something."

Nessie looked down at her feet, shifting her weight uncomfortably. "Look, Emmett, I don't know what you're trying to get out of me, but don't you think you'd be better off talking to your wife about all this?"

She was right, of course. For all her advanced growth and maturity, Nessie was still only seven years old. She may be highly intelligent, but she didn't have the coping skills to handle all of this. She'd obviously been recruited for some kind of secret, and it hadn't been fair of my wife to put her in this position, nor was it fair of me to try to get the truth out of her like this.

"Sorry," I mumbled, standing down from my offensive stance. Just then, an appalling odor of wet dog overtook my senses. "Geez, he smells even more offensive when you're a newborn."

"Jacob's here?" Nessie pulled herself together immediately, scanning with her eyes and nose. Her senses weren't quite as attuned as mine for obvious reasons. Sure enough, a large brown wolf was bounding across the dirt and rocks, closing the distance as quickly as he could. I expected him to disappear from view to change to human form and pull on shorts, but instead, he arrived on our doorstep in wolf form.

"Hey Jacob," I greeted him. "No time for a bath lately?" He turned his furry head to me and gave me a dirty look, which got me chuckling again. Nessie pressed her palm to his head, trying to make it look like she was scratching his ear, but his reaction told me that she was sending him a summary of the conversation we'd just had. He managed to stop himself from growling at me, but only just. I shrugged my shoulders. "I _said_ I was sorry," I muttered defensively.

"Come on, Jake. We don't have much time," Nessie urged. Jacob cast one more look at me over his shoulder as Nessie picked up a knapsack she'd left on the ground in preparation for their "nature stuff." The two of them headed off on whatever bizarre secret mission they had. I lingered in the doorway for a couple of minutes, trying to process all of the information I'd just gotten in some meaningful way, but I came up blank. I sighed and resigned myself to resuming my fruitless efforts at honing my skills. I positioned myself back in front of the trees again and tried to push aside my fears and concerns about Rosalie, focusing my attentions on the task at hand.

If I thought I'd been unsuccessful before, I apparently had no idea at my capacity to fail miserably at things. All I could think about was what Rosalie was hiding that was so damned important that she needed a small army to help her hide the secret. Did this have something to do with Nessie and Jacob's little outings to "do nature stuff?" Now that I thought about it, the two of them had been going off like this every couple of days since I'd been transformed, and I couldn't remember them ever doing it before. I shook my head at myself. I hadn't exactly been around during my week as a human. Maybe this was a new routine they'd started up then. Maybe it was Nessie's way of keeping Jacob in the loop while she was dating Josh. Who knew? I had to find out somehow, but how? Nessie wasn't saying anything. Edward couldn't get any details. Rosalie was stubborn enough that I knew any attempts at trying to talk about this over the phone would be fruitless. Maybe I could get something out of her in person, but since I wasn't allowed to go near her, I'd be barking up that tree for a long time.

If I only knew what Nessie and Jacob were up to, maybe that would give me some insight into what was turning my world upside-down this time. I knew I was being irrational. I knew I should put my faith in Rosalie. I'd lost her once already though, and I needed to know if she was plotting to get rid of me again. I couldn't imagine Nessie, Bella, and Jacob being in on it if that were the case, but I felt like I would lose my mind if I didn't get some definitive answers. I considered calling Rose, but I'd spoken to her already today and she'd asked for some human time.

I kept trying to focus on honing my talent, but all I could think about was how I wished I could see what Nessie and Jacob were up to so I could try to unravel this puzzle. I wanted desperately to have some more clues. I _needed_ to have some more clues. I would give anything for some more clues.

I started to chastise myself, to tell myself to get a grip and focus back on the two trees. That was when I noticed that the two trees were gone. I turned around to where I knew my house was, but it was gone too.

Great. I'd teleported again and ended up in completely the wrong place. I looked around, trying to get some clue as to where I was. I hoped I hadn't wound up in Alaska again. I really wanted to get back home in time for Aro's transformation. After a couple of seconds of disorientation, I realized that I was very familiar with my surroundings. I was only a couple of miles from home. Relief washed over me. I would be able to make it home with time to spare. I started to head off in the direction of my family's home, taking in a breath that I hadn't noticed I was holding. I froze in my tracks. That was definitely a werewolf I was smelling, and it was nearby.

I looked around and could just make out a huge wolf up ahead, looming over what looked to be a large buck. There was another figure there as well, a much smaller one, and human-shaped. I sniffed the air, trying to ignore the overwhelming wolf stench. I smelled fresh blood, which distracted me momentarily, causing venom to pool in my mouth. It was only deer blood, but I was a newborn after all. I sniffed again and realized the human-shaped form was only half human. It was Nessie.

I slinked forward silently to get a better look, hoping that Jacob would be too distracted to notice my scent in the air. The deer was already dead, its neck having been snapped. The gash on its neck was sliced cleanly and blood was flowing freely out of it. Nessie was stooped over the deer collecting its blood in various jars. She would hold up a jar until it was full, then grab the next one. Apparently, that was what she was keeping in the knapsack. Empty jars. Jacob was standing on top of the deer, keeping its involuntary post-mortem movements from harming Nessie. He had probably been the one to strike the killing blow as well, though the knife sitting at Nessie's feet showed that she had clearly been the one to slice open its throat.

None of this made any sense at all.

I supposed there was only one way I was going to get any answers.

"Hold still Jake!" Nessie complained. "You keep moving around like that and I'm going to spill."

"Hey kids, what are you two up to?" I called out.

Nessie froze. Jacob leapt in front of her without thinking, moving into a crouch and letting out a menacing growl. It took him a second to realize it was me and fall back. "Hi Emmett," Nessie replied casually. "We're just doing some hunting."

"Hunting, huh?"

Jacob gave Nessie a look and she nodded, putting lids on the jars and wiping them off with a rag before shoving them back into the knapsack. He ducked behind a tree and stepped back out again a few moments later wearing a pair of shorts. "I suppose you didn't notice the gigantic dead deer?" he sneered.

"I noticed it. I just didn't quite understand why Nessie was filling up jars with its blood."

Nessie shifted uncomfortably, but Jacob stepped in front of her. Chest out, shoulders back, he was projecting a clear message. _Don't mess with me, bloodsucker_. "For later," he growled.

"So you two have been sneaking out here nearly every day so Nessie could collect blood for later?" I asked.

"Yeah, what's it to you?" Jacob stepped closer. He was nearly close enough to chest-bump me at this point.

"Well, that seems counterproductive to me. If she wants blood, why doesn't she just hunt with us and drink it right away? Besides, her diet is mostly human food nowadays. Why does she suddenly want blood?"

"I need to supplement my diet since I've been hanging around humans more." Nessie's reply sounded more like a question than a statement.

"You always spent a lot of time around humans," I refused to relent. "Charlie, Sue, the non-wolf Quileutes. Aro's been around for weeks."

"And now she's dating," Jacob said calmly. I would have expected this remark to upset him, but he seemed perfectly content to utter this statement. "Wouldn't want any accidents with the Webers, would we?"

I stepped around Jacob, much to his obvious irritation. "Nessie, I want you to tell me the truth."

Nessie easily lifted her knapsack up onto her shoulder. "Let's get back, Jake." She ignored me, deliberately looking past me as if I wasn't even there. "I've got homework to do."

Jacob shot me one final look of distaste before grasping Nessie's hand possessively. She didn't flinch away from his touch at all, leaning her body slightly toward him as they started back in the direction, not of the house, but of the cottage. That was weird. Nessie had been staying at the house all week. Something wasn't right about their explanation, and it was even less right for Nessie to be storing her blood "for later" at the cottage when she didn't even live there anymore. Maybe she was trying to keep it away from me? I _was_ fairly uncontrollable around fresh blood, I had to admit. As a matter of fact, that deer still had some blood in it. It'd be a shame for it to go to waste...

Once I finished up with the deer, I went back to my line of thinking. The pieces just weren't fitting together correctly. Nessie had claimed she needed blood because she was spending more time around humans, but that simply wasn't true. Granted, she was spending time around _more_ humans than ever before, but the quantity of humans shouldn't make much difference. She'd been fine when she was around me as a human, despite the fact that my blood had smelled especially good to her. Being only half-vampire, she really had very little bloodlust at all. If only I could beat them to the cottage without drawing too much attention to myself.

Well, I'd done it once, hadn't I? Was it too much to hope that I might pull it off again? I focused my thoughts. I _needed_ to know what Nessie and Jacob were up to and how it was related to what Rosalie was up to. I needed to be there at the cottage.

A few seconds later, I was in a room full of clothes. I waited a few more seconds for the disorientation to go away. This was Bella's closet, I was sure of that. I was determined to hold my breath, since I was in extremely close proximity to two humans, one of whom happened to be my wife. If I hurt her in any way, I would never forgive myself. I decided to stay put for right now and listen.

"Where are they?" Rosalie demanded. "They should have been here twenty minutes ago."

"I'm sure they're on their way," Bella comforted her.

"Not good enough," Rosalie hissed. Her hissing was less threatening and more adorable now that she was human. "Edward will be back by the time they get here if they don't hurry up."

"So send him a text asking for him to pick up some random thing on his way back," Bella suggested. "Say it's something Aro wants. He won't even question it."

"That might work," Rosalie muttered. I heard several button presses on a cell phone. "Wool socks sound like something Aro would ask for, don't they?"

"Wool socks?" Aro piped up. "Why, that sounds delightful!"

Bella snorted. About half a minute later, I heard Rosalie's cell phone go off. "He says he'll stop for them," Rosalie said triumphantly. "That should buy us a few more minutes, at least."

"And it also buys me some wool socks," Aro called out cheerfully. He didn't seem too concerned about what was happening later tonight. "I do wish I'd thought of it sooner."

I heard the door to the cottage burst open. "Sorry we're late," Nessie breathed. "Jacob had some pack business to take care of, and then we ran into some trouble with Emmett."

"With Emmett?" Rosalie asked in horror.

"I suppose it's time I excused myself?" Aro asked. So whatever had been going on, he'd been kept in the dark by everyone. That explained why Edward wasn't getting any information from Aro. All he knew was that he was supposed to leave when Nessie and Jacob showed up.

"Yes," Bella said, and I imagined she was probably waving her hand dismissively at him as she spoke. I heard footsteps as Aro creaked the front door open and struck up a conversation with the two wolves outside.

"Hello, lovely day for guard duty, isn't it? Oh my, your fur seems to be tangled. Would you like me to brush it for you?"

I tried to tune him out and focus on the more important conversation taking place inside the house. I heard the sound of glass clinking against itself as Nessie set down her knapsack. "I didn't get as much as normal this time because of what happened. Emmett somehow managed to sneak up on us and—"

"Shhh," Jacob's voice cut Nessie off. "Do you guys smell that?" he added in a whisper.

"I don't smell anything," Rosalie complained.

"Of course _you_ don't," Jacob snapped. "Bells, Ness?"

My heart would be racing now if it were still possible. I could hear the three of them sniffing the air. The jig was up. They were going to find me. I needed to get out of here. Could I pull it off a third time?

I need to get out of here, I repeated internally. I need to get out of here, I need to get out of here, I need to get out of here.

Footsteps were coming softly in my direction.

I need to get out of here, I need to get out of here, I need to get out of here.

The closet door creaked open.

I need to get out of here, I need to get out of here, I need to get out of here.

"Emmett, what are you doing in my closet?"

Damn. I guessed I just didn't need it badly enough.

"Uhhh... I've been thinking of taking up cross-dressing?"

Bella hauled me to my feet angrily. I gave her no resistance whatsoever. I was out of air, and I knew I was going to have to breathe if there were any follow-up questions. I wanted to have her here if that happened. Right now, she and Jacob were the only ones capable of possibly stopping me.

She dragged me by my upper arm out to the living room where Rosalie was seated on the couch, wrapped in a blanket. I gasped before I could think about what I was doing, thrilled at seeing my wife again. I felt like I'd swallowed a mouthful of hot burning coals, and I gripped Bella's arm.

"Ow," she complained, but tightened her grip on me. "Don't even think about it. Jake?"

Jacob ducked out of view for a moment to remove his shorts and re-emerged as a wolf, positioning himself between Rosalie and me. "Thanks," I told him sincerely. He nodded in response.

"Now, would you mind telling us all exactly what you're doing here?" Bella demanded.

"I told you. Cross dressing," I smirked.

Rosalie shot daggers at me with her eyes, but I could see they were still full of love. Whatever was going on, she definitely wasn't plotting to leave me again. "Get the hell out of here," she commanded me. "We have matters to attend to."

"What would those matters be?" I asked. "Girl stuff? Nature stuff? I got a lot of weirdly mixed answers from Nessie, and none of them really explained why Bella''s been shielding all three of you."

The four of them fell dead silent. "Please?" I heard Aro ask outside. "It's quite possibly my last chance to go for a wolf ride."

I burst out laughing despite myself. I tried to figure out which wolves were out there, but I didn't immediately recognize their scents. They must have been in Sam's pack. I hoped Paul was one of them. Anyone else might not have been so irritated by Aro's request.

"It's none of your business," Rosalie huffed.

"Actually, I think it sort of is his business," Bella said quietly.

"Not yet," Rosalie pleaded.

"You can't hide it any longer, Rose. You must realize that you're showing already."

"_Not yet_," Rosalie hissed again. My eyes fell to the blanket that was carefully wrapped around her. Was it really that cold in here? Aro _had_ been excited at the prospect of wool socks, but Aro got excited about everything.

"Rosalie," Nessie said softly. "I think it's time to let the others know. Carlisle should take a look at you anyway."

"I don't want Carlisle anywhere _near_ me once he finds out," Rosalie insisted.

"I'll be right there, Rose," Bella replied. "I won't let him do anything we don't want him to do."

We?

"Anyway, I'm perfectly fine," Rosalie added. "Bella wasn't nearly this healthy by this point. We're doing everything right, and we didn't wait nearly so long to start on the proper diet."

"I wasn't showing _this much _by this point either," Bella continued to press the issue.

"Excuse me, ladies. Would one of you please fill me in on what you're bickering about?" I interjected.

The three of them exchanged glances. Jacob continued to keep his eyes on me.

"If you don't tell him, I will," Nessie spoke up. "He deserves to know, and I'm tired of making up excuses. Now that he _knows_ I'm involved, he's not going to let up and you know it. I'll crack."

"Fine," Rosalie growled. "Congratulations, Emmett."

"Congratulations? I still don't know what's going on yet," I replied, confused.

"Congratulations are in order," Bella said calmly. Rosalie nodded at her, and Nessie moved to the couch to hold Rosalie's hand. "You're going to be a father," Bella finished.


	31. Explanation

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Thirty-One - Explanation

My mind was buzzing a million miles a minute. I had so many questions, but I couldn't get an entire sentence out before the next question popped up. The end result was that I ended up stammering like a jackass in Bella's living room. All concerns over the scent of Rosalie's blood were abandoned. I didn't even notice it anymore.

"What..." This one was actually a question in and of itself. I could scarcely believe what I'd just heard. "Why..." _have you been hiding this?_ "Who..." _have you told about this? _"How..." _could you possibly be pregnant? _"When..." _were you planning to tell me? _

"Very good, Em. You only missed 'where,'" Nessie smirked. I glowered at her, but she stood her ground, lifting her chin toward me in defiance. I wondered whether she'd be so bold if Jacob wasn't still standing between her and me, and if her mother wasn't holding me back as well.

"Rose, baby," I took a step toward my wife. Bella started to keep me from it, but she could see that I was under control, so she simply tightened her grip on my arm and came along. Jacob let out a growl, which I ignored. "Is it true? Are you really... with child?"

"Yes, Emmett, it's true," Rosalie sighed contently, removing the blanket from around her body. I could see the bump as plainly as I could see anything else.

"How is that possible? I mean, we haven't... Not since you've been human."

"We did right before I became human," Rosalie explained patiently.

"But you were still a vampire then. I don't understand," I shook my head, baffled.

"Conception can occur days after intercourse. Sperm can survive in the female body for quite awhile," Nessie supplied helpfully. "What? I'm taking biology in school," she finished in response to the strange look Bella was giving her.

My head snapped back to Rosalie. She smiled brilliantly. "It's true. I got pregnant right after I became human again."

"How could you possibly know that?" I demanded.

"A woman knows," Rosalie snapped. I gaped at her, feeling betrayed. "I just knew," she said more softly.

"Rosalie, this isn't safe. Your body is too weak to handle this kind of trauma right now. I remember what it was like right after becoming human. You've got so many adjustments to make, and now you're carrying a half-vampire baby on top of that? It's too much. We've got to get Carlisle to take care of it. In a year or so, when your body has returned to normal, we'll talk about this again—"

Rosalie cut me off. "This is why I didn't tell you about this!" she screeched. "I _knew_ you'd react this way. I'm not giving up this baby. I want it. I _need_ it!"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Rose, Bella barely survived this. She's the only one who ever has." I shook my head determinedly. "It's too much risk. Way too much risk. Carlisle has a sample from when I was human, it'd be so much safer, and if that doesn't work, we'll find a surrogate. I'm not letting you do this."

"You're not _letting_ her?" Bella shoved me backward. "You're not _letting_ her? Since when do you get the right to make decisions for her?"

"Bella, this isn't safe! You of all people should realize—"

"You think I shouldn't exist, don't you?" Nessie spoke up sadly.

"Of course I don't think that, Ness. But that was an entirely different circumstance."

"How is it different?" Rosalie demanded. "Bella was human, carrying Edward's child. I'm human, carrying your child. Explain to me the difference."

"Bella had been human her whole life up to that point. You've been human for a few days. I'm a newborn. Who knows what difference that might make? Also, Bella had Carlisle looking after her. You've hidden it from everyone, except these three for some reason. Why did you tell them anyway?"

"I needed someone who could protect me and stand with me if it came to that. Bella was obviously the best choice. When we talked about it, I said I wanted to drink blood right away, because that helped Bella so much later in her pregnancy. Since I wasn't half-dead, we could take the extra time to get animal blood, and I insisted on it. I've never tasted human blood, and I don't want to start now. Bella couldn't leave to hunt for me though, not if she was going to keep the shield around me. She suggested sending Nessie, and I agreed, because being a half-vampire herself, Nessie certainly wasn't going to campaign for me to abort."

"That all makes sense," I said slowly. "But why Jacob?"

"I can hunt decently for myself with my teeth if I want to," Nessie answered, "but slashing an animal's throat and holding it still while I drain it into jars is hard work. I needed help for that, and Rosalie wasn't willing to let anyone else on the family in on the secret just yet. Jacob was safe enough because, well, he has to do whatever I say. If I say he can't tell anyone, including his pack, then he can't."

"Well it sounds like you've got everything all figured out," I said sarcastically. "Still, I can't allow this. Rose, it's too dangerous. Maybe later, once you've adjusted to being human again."

"Emmett, I'm not going to let you do anything," Bella said fiercely. "If it comes down to a fight, you know Edward will be on my side. Alice too, which means Jasper will be also. I know you're strong, but you can't fight us all off."

"I'll pick you off one by one if I have to. Bella, you're my sister and I love you, but I'm not going to let you stand in the way of my wife's safety."

Bella looked horrified, but Rosalie just snorted. "Yes, that's a brilliant plan, Emmett. After you've killed Carlisle and Edward, it will be so easy for you to find a doctor who's qualified to abort _or_ deliver a half-vampire baby."

My mouth flew open to speak, but there was nothing I could say. She was right. I needed Carlisle. "I wasn't going to kill them," I finally said lamely. "Just incapacitate them for awhile."

"Emmett, I understand that you're concerned about my safety," Rosalie said softly. "This is _my _decision, and I'm having this baby. There's nothing you can do about it."

"I'm beginning to see that," I grumbled. "I still want Carlisle to take a look at you. You've been pregnant for a week, which, assuming you're following the same path Bella followed, means you're about a quarter of the way through your pregnancy. It was very irresponsible for you not to seek medical attention."

"I was afraid of what Carlisle might try to do," Rosalie whispered. "Besides, I'm taking better care of myself than Bella did. I started on blood immediately. I'm perfectly healthy."

"So far. You don't know what might happen in another few days. Don't you remember how fast Nessie grew? How soon she was cracking Bella's ribs?"

"What am I supposed to do, apologize for that?" Nessie shouted. "I suppose you think I'm some kind of abomination!"

"Her... name... is... Renesmee!" Bella shrieked.

"Oh come off it, Bella!" Rosalie snapped. "She prefers to be called Nessie. Get over it, or I'll have the whole family call you Isabella."

Bella opened her mouth to protest and shut it again. "Fine," she hissed.

"I don't think you're an abomination, Nessie," I explained carefully. "But Bella only survived by being turned into a vampire. Rosalie, what exactly do you think is going to happen? You don't want to be a vampire."

"I didn't want to be a vampire before. Under the circumstances, I'd be fine with it." Rosalie answered. "Think about it. If I have a human child, as you suggest I should, not only will I grow old and die one day, leaving you all alone, but your child will too. How could I put you through that?" Rosalie's eyes filled with tears as she spoke. "Just so I could be human? It's not right. It's better this way. All three of us can be together forever."

I lapsed into stunned silence for several minutes. "Rose, are you sure about this?"

"Yes," she replied simply.

I sighed, slowly approaching the couch. Jacob growled at me while Bella followed behind, never releasing her grasp on my arm. I ignored them both. The burn in my throat was unbearable. I ignored it too. I sat beside my wife, gently taking her hand in mine, ever mindful of the fact that I could crush it if I gave her even the slightest squeeze. "Then we'll do whatever we can to make it work," I assured her. "Rose, if this is what you want, and if you're sure about it, I'll be on your side."

Rosalie turned, burying her face in my shoulder as her tears flowed freely. I stroked her hair softly, hoping that my touch was soothing to her in some way. I had no idea how this was going to work. Would she be able to survive like Bella had? Would I be able to survive if she didn't? For the moment though, my wife was here, and she was carrying my child. This should be a happy moment.

"I had to make three stops to find a place that carried wool socks," Edward called from the doorway. He froze in his tracks. "Emmett? What are you doing here? What's going on?"

Rosalie sighed, pulling herself away from me. "Bella, you might as well stop shielding us now. I'd like Edward to have every possible side of the story." Bella nodded, and Edward looked momentarily overwhelmed.

"Rosalie, how could you keep something like this from me? From Carlisle? From Emmett?" Edward chastised.

"Your wife and daughter are on my side, and so is their wolf," Rosalie evaded the question. Bella and Jacob both looked mildly uncomfortable at my wife's description of him as "their" wolf, but it really was a suitable term.

"I'm not happy about being kept in the dark," I said calmly. "I still think it's a huge risk. Rose made a compelling argument though, and I want to do what I can to help. I want to keep her safe."

Edward sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I don't suppose I need to tell either of you that it's impossible to guarantee her safety?"

Rosalie lifted her head from my chest to face me. Her eyes burned with the need to go through with this. "I'm sorry, Emmett," she whispered. "I promise you though, I _will _get through this alive. We _will_ be together forever." She leaned in to kiss me, and I struggled with the desire to bite her lip and suck out her blood. I had a new respect for Edward and what he'd done.

The sound of Edward clearing his throat reminded me that we were in mixed company. I pulled away, and Jacob started his bark-laugh. In perfect unison, Rosalie and I gave him the finger. He harrumphed before ducking out of the room once again to change back to human form.

"Do we really need to keep hanging out here and protecting Blondie from her husband now?" Jacob asked upon returning.

"Perhaps we were wrong to keep them apart," Edward observed. "We expected Emmett's control to be less than this. Learning of Rosalie's present condition changes things. She should be near Carlisle so that he can continue to monitor, if it is truly her intention to follow through on this." Rosalie rolled her eyes.

"I'll carry her back to the house," I said.

"I can walk!" Rosalie protested.

"I'm not taking any chances. Nessie, you want to grab the jars of blood and follow?" Nessie ambled over obediently to pick up the knapsack, tripping over her own feet along the way. Jacob was close enough on her heels to be able to reach out and steady her before she fell. I really did hope that Nessie would choose him in the end. I wanted her to be happy, but Jacob just watched over her so easily. Edward flashed me a small smile in response to my thoughts.

I easily lifted Rosalie and swung her around while she shrieked in surprise. She giggled and punched my arm. "You could have warned me!"

"It was more fun this way," I grinned. "C'mon troops! Hup, two, three, four!" I called to Nessie and Jacob, who trailed behind gleefully. The wolves outside gave us a curious look, but Jacob gave them a dismissive wave.

"We're good, guys. You can head back to Sam. We're not on guard duty anymore." They each gave an excited nod and ran away.

"Bella? Edward? Coming?" I called over my shoulder.

The two of them looked at one another and smirked. "I think we'll join you in a couple of hours," Bella replied.

"Take Aro with you, will you?" Edward added.

"Gotcha. Boom chicka chicka wa-wa!" I spun back around before I had time to watch their embarrassed expressions, continuing to hum porno music. "Hey Aro, join the party! We're heading back to the big house."

Aro darted into the cottage just long enough to pick up his wool socks. "I suppose I'll be seeing the two of you shortly?" he asked Bella and Edward.

"Probably," Bella grinned.

"Well, either way, thank you both for your hospitality." Aro gave them a short bow and then joined our procession, falling into step beside Nessie and Jacob. "Why is he carrying her while I have to walk? I'm old."

"Because you touch yourself at night," Jacob grumbled.

"Well yes, how else would I change into my pajamas?" Aro was perplexed.

"Never mind, Aro," Nessie said. "Jacob thinks he's funny."

Rosalie nestled her head into the crook of my neck. "Was the dog always so funny?" she whispered into my ear.

"He has his moments," I told her amicably. I felt her face pull into a smile.

"Perhaps I've been too hard on him," she murmured softly.

"Nah," I replied. "If anything, you haven't been hard _enough_ on him," I broke into a grin.

"I don't know what you two are whispering about up there, but if it's about me, people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw rocks!" Jacob shouted. "Cause you guys live in a glass house?" he continued, this time directing his words to Nessie.

"Jake, just because I don't laugh at one of your jokes doesn't necessarily mean I didn't understand it. Maybe it just wasn't funny," Nessie chastised him. "Did you ever think of that?"

Jacob paused for a few moments. "Nope. Never."

I chuckled into Rosalie's hair as she buried her face deeper into my neck. "I'd forgotten how good you smell," she whispered. "Sort of floral, like a meadow right after it rains."

"Hey, I have a manly musk!" I protested jokingly. I kissed the top of her head. "I'm glad you like it," I added softly.

Suddenly, she pulled her face away from my neck, and I found myself immediately missing the warmth. My throat still burned painfully, but I didn't care. I would take it a thousand times if it meant I could still be near her. "I missed you," she said, her deep blue eyes staring directly into mine.

"I missed you too, babe. Hey, we both have blue eyes! I never realized."

"I guess that means our baby will have blue eyes too," Rosalie smiled before burying her face back into my neck again.

"I guess he will," I said, slightly distracted. I was going to be a father. I hadn't even had time to process this yet, and it was happening in just a few weeks.

"He?" Rosalie mumbled into my neck.

"Or she. Whichever. As long as he or she is healthy, it makes no difference to me."

"I figured you'd want a boy," Rosalie remarked.

"It would be kind of fun," I agreed. "But having a little girl to spoil would be fun too. I'm sure you want a girl."

"I don't know," Rosalie said thoughtfully. "I feel like I already had a lot of those experiences with Nessie. I don't think I'd mind a boy." We were going at a fairly slow human pace so that Aro could keep up, so there was plenty of time for more discussion before we arrived. I thought it was time to ask another question about which I was very curious.

"Have you thought about what you'd name him or her?" I asked eagerly.

"I have," Rosalie said carefully. "For a boy, I was thinking of Theodore."

"Theodore? Isn't that kind of, I don't know, a pansy name?" I tried not to snort.

"It's a Greek name which means 'God's gift,'" Rosalie explained. I instantly felt terrible for ribbing her.

"Well, we could call him Ted or something," I remarked. "It's a very fitting name. What about if it's a girl?"

She hesitated, breathing into me. "I've considered a few names, and I've got it narrowed down to two. Dorothy, which also means 'gift of God.'" I nodded in agreement. I wasn't completely in love with the sound of the name, but it was fitting. "The other name I've considered is Cassandra. There is some debate over whether it means 'gift' in some capacity. It primarily seems to mean 'helper of men,' or some variation. Cassandra was a Trojan princess who was so beautiful that she was granted the gift of prophecy."

"I don't know, Rose. The beauty part seems fitting for us, but the prophecy part? That's more of Alice's territory."

"That's what I thought too," Rosalie sighed. "It's just such a pretty name."

"It doesn't _need _to have special meaning, you know. Nessie's name doesn't really mean anything."

"That's how Bella does things. It's not how I do things," Rosalie remarked, careful to keep her tone from sounding condescending.

"Well, what do our names mean?" I asked, curious. It seemed like I should have checked into this at some point in the century or so I'd been alive, but it had never dawned on me.

"Rosalie means 'rose garden,' and Emmett means 'powerful,'" she replied.

"Hmm. Maybe we _should_ try to make the names mean something," I answered thoughtfully. "Seems like our parents got our names spot-on. Maybe we could go with Dorothy Cassandra? Use Cassandra as a middle name?"

"No," Rosalie said determinedly. "Boy or girl, our baby is going to have two middle names."

"Two?"

"McCarty Hale," Rosalie explained.

"Oh. Does this mean he or she will be a Cullen?"

"Yes, and so will their mother," I could feel the smile on Rosalie's face again.

"Really? After all these years, you finally want to be a Cullen?" I was surprised by this revelation.

"This time, I'm finally choosing it," she explained simply.

"We should probably get married again then, huh?" I grinned.

"My thoughts exactly." Rosalie sighed contently and I felt her eyelashes as her eyes fluttered shut. I continued to walk in silence, thinking of all the possibilities I'd never considered before. We had some serious shopping to do, too. Bella and Edward had skipped out on a lot of those things because Edward was so certain that Bella was going to die. I was worried about that, but I had a lot of hope that we'd learned enough the last time that Rosalie would survive. She had to. There was no other option.

"Ew, gross Jake! Get it away!" Nessie's shrieks interrupted my musing.

"It's just a worm, Nessie. It can't hurt you." Jacob taunted.

"I don't care if it can hurt me, it's gross!"

"Fine, I'll get rid of it," Jacob replied.

"What's this? Why have you done this to me!" Aro demanded. "Emmett! Your pet wolf has thrown a worm on my face and I don't know what to do!"

I spun around in time to see Aro jumping back and forth on the tips of his toes, as if he were running in place. He was flapping his hands wildly with his mouth downturned in a horrified expression, and it didn't look like it ever once occurred to him to pick the worm off of his face.

"Jacob. Play nice," I said.

"Fine, hold still, let me get it."

"No!" Aro cried out. "I'm not letting you touch me again. Who knows what vile thing you might put on me next?" He took off in a run toward me. "Emmett, get it off! Get it off! Get it off!"

His screaming got Rosalie's attention. She opened her eyes and turned her face to the source of the noise. It took her a second to focus on what was happening, and then she let out a bloodcurdling screech that could wake the dead. "_Get that worm away from me!"_ she yelled.

"Nessie? Little help here? I can't balance your aunt and pick worms off of Aro at the same time." Rosalie was thrashing in my arms and clawing at my face, trying desperately to put some distance between herself and the worm. Aro, meanwhile, was inching ever closer to me, flapping his hands about and screaming that he wanted the worm off of his face.

Nessie jogged to catch up to the action. "I'll take Rosalie. I'm not touching that worm," she said stubbornly.

"Fine! Let's just get this handled before they both have heart attacks!" I gently handed Rosalie over to Nessie, casting a glance in the direction of the house. We were nearly there, and we were certainly close enough that anyone inside would have heard Rosalie screaming bloody murder.

I picked the worm off of Aro's face and tossed it to the ground. "Jacob, behave yourself," I warned him, taking Rosalie back into my arms. "Nessie, make sure he listens," I instructed. Nessie snapped me a quick salute before falling back into step beside Jacob.

"Aw, c'mon Ness, it was just a joke," Jacob begged for forgiveness.

"I didn't think it was one bit funny, Jacob Black."

"Don't call me that, Nessie. That's when I know I'm in trouble," Jacob replied gloomily.

"Hrmph." Nessie continued toward the house, refusing to look in Jacob's direction. If Jacob was a little smarter, he might have realized that the fact that she was walking next to him at all meant that he was basically forgiven, but Jacob wasn't quite that wise. He continued to beg and plead for forgiveness the rest of the way to the house. Judging by the way I felt her facial muscles pressed against my neck, this seemed to make Rosalie particularly happy, so I decided not to clue him in.


	32. Checkup

**For some reason, this chapter did NOT want to get written. It rose up in defiance and punched me in the nose every time I tried. I finally managed to subdue it and show it who's boss though! Shorter than normal, but I'll take it.**

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Thirty-Two - Checkup

I had half expected everyone to be expecting us. I was just accustomed to Alice anticipating my every move. Of course, with Nessie and Jacob arriving right behind me, it made sense that she hadn't seen us, but I hadn't considered that fact. I was ill-prepared for the barrage of questions and arguments that would break out when I kicked in the front door carrying my human wife.

"Emmett! Rosalie! What's going on?" Esme was wringing her hands in concern. I didn't need to have Edward's gift to figure out that she was afraid I'd injured Rosalie.

"Hi Esme," I said cheerfully, hoping to minimize the shock.

"Esme!" Rosalie heard me speak and immediately hopped out of my protesting arms to embrace our mother. "It's so good to see you!"

Esme readily returned Rosalie's hug, but she looked at me confused. I wasn't sure which was more confusing to her: The fact that we'd shown up, the fact that I'd been in contact with Rosalie when I wasn't supposed to be, or the fact that Rosalie was willingly giving her a hug.

Nessie, who had been all but ignored up to this point, handed off the knapsack she'd been carrying to Jacob. He took it, doing his best to hide his grimace at what it held. I didn't understand how he could object to carrying around a bag of blood, considering he'd been instrumental in collecting it in the first place, but I kept my mouth shut.

"Allow me," Nessie offered. "It'll be faster this way."

Rosalie looked over her shoulder at Nessie and nodded, backing away. A few minutes later, Nessie had everyone up-to-date on the current situation with Rosalie's pregnancy, including what measures she'd been taking to ensure the baby's health.

"I see," Carlisle said, his lips pressed into a hard line. "Rosalie, I'm glad you've been taking care of the baby's needs as well as your own, but it was nevertheless irresponsible of you not to come to me. There are further things you should be doing, such as taking prenatal vitamins."

"I'm sorry, Dad," Rosalie mumbled, staring at her feet. Carlisle's face softened immediately. It wasn't often that Rose called him "Dad." She looked back up, her usual determined expression returning. "You're right. I should have talked to you right away. I was just scared that you'd disagree with my decision to keep the baby, and I wasn't going to let you stop me, no matter the cost."

"I understand," Carlisle said gently. "Still, this is your decision and no one else's. The circumstances with Bella were very different. None of us fully understood the risks, least of all her. You do. If you choose to still go through with this, I won't attempt to stand in your way. Emmett," he turned to me, "how are you feeling about all of this?"

"Rosalie's health is my top priority," I said immediately. "All of her health. That includes her happiness, and having his baby is what she needs. She's wanted this her whole life. It's not something she's undertaking lightly. As for me, well... Someone told me recently that I'd make a good dad. I'm ready to find out." I winked at Nessie, who smiled back in return.

"Very well, it's good that you're both on the same page," Carlisle said, turning his attention back to Rosalie again. "You're certain that you're pregnant?"

"Yes, I knew immediately. I know it sounds silly, but I was certain of it. When I started having Nessie bring me blood, it just confirmed it. The blood tastes good. Not as good as I remember it tasting as a vampire, of course, but better than I think it should to a human."

"That's definitely compelling evidence," Carlisle agreed. "You do seem to be showing now as well, but just from taking in your appearance, you seem to be further along than Bella was at this stage. I'd like to give you an examination now, if you're willing."

"Of course," Rosalie agreed.

"Excuse me Carlisle," Aro interjected. I'd nearly forgotten that he was even here. I shouldn't be able to stand here so calmly and rationally in the presence of two humans when I'd been a vampire for only days, but things had changed, and I was doing fine. All the same, I sidled over closer to Jasper and Alice in case the need should arise. "Shall I assume that we'll be putting off this evening's plans for another day or two?"

"I'm sorry Aro, but under the circumstances—" Carlisle began.

Aro held up a hand. "Say no more. Your family is your top priority, of course, and we still have quite a bit of time before my changing becomes necessary to save them. I should enjoy having another day or two to eat, drink, and be merry." Esme and Nessie headed into the kitchen to begin preparing dinner for the four individuals present who actually ate.

Carlisle took Rosalie's arm carefully and led her away to give her a checkup. I couldn't decide whether I should be following or not. Rosalie cast a glance over her shoulder at me. "We'll let you know if there's anything you need to know. Until then, it might be better if you stay back. Carlisle might need a blood sample or something."

"Good point," I grunted. Controlled or not, if Carlisle did anything to break her skin, I would break anything in my path to get to the source of the leaking human blood.

Alice and Jasper moved subtly apart, flanking me on either side. Jacob took a position in front of me where he could block me from attacking if necessary while still keeping Nessie in his view. Esme kept casting nervous glances in my direction. Alice gave a small whimper of irritation. "I can't _see_ anything with Jacob here," she complained. "I don't have any way of knowing whether Emmett will be able to control himself."

"Relax, Alice. I've taken down just as many newborns as you have, and Jasper's taken out quite a few more. We've got this under control," Jacob answered confidently.

"Well, I'd certainly prefer to have this under control _without_ needing to kill my brother," Alice retorted.

Jacob shrugged. "So we won't set him on fire. He can recover from anything else."

"It's fine, Alice," I told her sincerely. "Whatever you need to do to keep Rose safe. Don't worry about me. Although, I would appreciate it if you followed Jacob's suggestion and didn't set me on fire," I grinned. That got a small smile out of Alice.

"Well, if we did set you on fire, Rosalie would be safe," Jasper deadpanned. I turned to face him, stunned. He almost managed to keep his expression completely blank, but the twitching at the corners of his lips gave him away.

"Boys," Esme called from the kitchen in a perfectly casual voice, "no one is setting anyone on fire. I thought I taught you kids not to play with matches."

"Yeah, haven't you guys seen all those fire safety public service announcements?" Nessie put in.

"Are those the ones that say you should ask an adult before you put anything in your mouth?" I called back. "Esme, can I put some blood in my mouth?"

"No, no, those are the poison safety announcements," Nessie replied.

"That depends, dear," Esme answered me. "Where is the blood coming from? Is it in an animal-shaped bottle or a human-shaped bottle?"

"Wolf-man shaped bottle?" I poked Jacob in the ribs.

"Hmm," Esme pretended to consider the question carefully. "I think I'd prefer if you didn't."

"You guys are nuts," Jacob muttered.

"So you keep telling us," I replied, trying to hide my anxiety about Rosalie's condition behind my fearless words.

"Where are Edward and Bella anyway?" Alice asked.

"They're, uh, preoccupied," Jacob smirked.

"Preoccupied?" Alice couldn't possibly have been that confused.

"I think they're practicing singing," Aro interjected. Every head in the living room and kitchen snapped to turn to Aro, who was lounging on the couch trying to find something to watch on television. "That's what Emmett said they would be doing."

"What?" I was completely lost by the implication.

"You sang a song when they asked you to take me with you. Boom chicka wa-wa, I believe it was. Oh, and there was a dance that went with it." Aro rose from the couch and began demonstrating a pelvic thrust with his fists closed, bringing his elbows back over his hips as he thrusted. "I suppose they'll be dancing as well."

Esme threw her hand over Nessie's eyes while the rest of us doubled over in hysterics. If it were possible to die from laughing, we would all be goners. Tears were streaming down Jacob's face as Aro continued to obliviously "dance" all over the living room while singing "boom chicka wa-wa." Eventually, we finally composed ourselves and died down to occasional giggles.

"My, but that was great fun," Aro proclaimed. "I can certainly understand why Edward and Bella would like more time to do that. I don't understand why they wouldn't want an audience though."

Alice, Jasper, Jacob, and I collapsed in a heap on the floor with our next fit of laughter. I was glad for my flawless memory. I didn't know if replaying this particular memory for Edward would _ever_ get old.

"He can't _really_ be that clueless, can he?" I asked in a voice that Aro wouldn't be able to hear. "I mean, he was married for how many centuries?"

"Sometimes I think he plays it up," Jasper remarked in the same voice. "He enjoys making us laugh. He _is_ pretty clueless though. He's probably never heard modern terms for sexual activity. Only Edward would be able to be certain."

"Oh, I'll _definitely_ be talking to Edward about this," I grinned.

Before I had time to say much more, I heard a door open inside the house. Carlisle must be finished examining Rosalie. I leapt to my feet, inciting alarm in Jasper and Jacob. "Relax, guys. He's just anxious about the news," Alice said. Even with her visions blocked, she seemed to have a better understanding of what I would or wouldn't do than the others.

Carlisle stepped into the living room. Alone. I flew into a state of panic before Jasper had time to start calming me down.

"What is it? What's wrong? Is she going to be okay? Is something wrong with the baby?" I continued to spout off questions as I tried to rush toward Carlisle. Jasper and Alice were too quick, working as a team to grab my arms and restrain me. I wanted to fight back, but I knew that Jacob would just phase if I tried, and then I'd be beaten for sure.

"Emmett, we need to see you please," was all that Carlisle would say. Terrified, I followed him back to his study. He hadn't brought all of his medical equipment out yet, but I knew he'd be setting everything up soon enough. Rosalie was lying nonchalantly on Carlisle's psychiatrist-inspired couch, grinning from ear to ear. She certainly looked all right. Jasper and Alice had accompanied me, not wanting to leave Carlisle alone to protect me from Rosalie.

"Take this," Carlisle said, handing me a stethoscope. Puzzled, I put it on.

"You do know that my hearing is—" I began.

"—As is mine. At this stage in development, a fetus's heartbeat is virtually impossible for humans to detect, even with all of the advanced equipment at their disposal. Even we cannot hear it without assistance," Carlisle replied calmly.

"I can hear the baby's heartbeat?" Despite my worries, I was excited at the prospect. Without another word, Carlisle guided my hand to Rosalie's stomach and pressed the stethoscope down.

"You'll need to listen closely. Rosalie's heartbeat is obviously much louder," Carlisle explained. I did my best to tune out the sound of Rose's heart beating, reminding me that the woman I loved was alive and well. My angel. After Jasper calmed me down a little, I could finally hear it. It was faint, it was tiny, and it was thrumming rapidly like Nessie's heartbeat. My son or daughter.

"I can hear it!" I exclaimed.

Carlisle placed a finger over his lips in a shushing motion. "Keep listening," he said.

He didn't have to ask me a second time. I could sit and listen to this sound all day. My wife's heartbeat, mixed in with this hummingbird sound was quite possibly the most amazing thing I'd ever experienced. A beat from Rosalie. Two beats from the baby. A beat from Rosalie. Two beats from the baby. After a few moments, Carlisle frowned and slightly repositioned my hand. "Hey!" I protested. "I could hear fine where it was before."

"Apparently not," Carlisle replied quietly. I went back to listening. A beat from Rosalie. Two beats from the baby. A beat from Rosalie. Wait.. Were those two beats from the baby or four? I scrunched my face in concentration. There were definitely four beats from the baby, but...

"Is the baby's heart supposed to be beating _that_ fast?" I asked, panicked. "Nessie's heartbeat is fast, but this..." I choked on my words, frightened. Perhaps my being a newborn had adversely affected the baby. I looked back up at Rosalie's face, terrified of how she might react if it turned out that the baby wasn't healthy. She was still smiling, a happier look on her face than I'd ever seen her wear.

"That, Emmett, is the sound of your children," Carlisle told me.

"Child...ren?"

"Emmett, we're having twins!" Rosalie exclaimed, throwing her arms around my neck.


	33. Realization

**Argh, I absolutely LOATHE having to apologize for not updating! I'm one who typically updates a couple of times a week, as most of you know. However, this part of the story is incredibly difficult for me. How do I talk about Rosalie's pregnancy without just rehashing Bella's pregnancy? This is the question that has plagued me since even before I wrote about her being pregnant. No matter what I did, this chapter just wasn't flowing. The best I can come up with is just to keep other events running along so that the entire focus isn't on Rosalie's delicate condition. Which seems dreadfully wrong, since Emmett is the narrator, but he's also quite easily distracted, so I'm going to see if I can pull it off...**

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Thirty-Three - Realization

"Twins?" I repeated, rolling the word around on my tongue. I had already accepted the fact that I would only ever be able to have one child, since Rosalie wasn't going to survive this pregnancy as a human. As a matter of fact, I had previously accepted the idea that I would never be able to have any children, since my wife had, until recently, been a vampire. Now I was suddenly going to have two. I wasn't opposed to the idea; I was just overwhelmed.

"Yes," Carlisle confirmed. "Rosalie is as healthy as can be expected. Healthier, I think, than Bella was at this stage in her pregnancy with Nessie. Unfortunately, there is little I can do to assess the health of the babies, given that we cannot see through the venomous embryonic sac with imaging devices. However, in another week or two, Edward should be able to hear them, and we will have a better idea of what to expect."

I blinked at the information overload. I was going to be a father. I was going to have twins. Rosalie was healthy. I was going to be a father. Of twins. Rosalie was healthy. She was going to have twins, and I was going to be their father. I didn't know what to say. It seemed like I had all of the important information. Like the fact that I was going to be a father. Because Rosalie was carrying twins.

"Are there any additional risks for Rosalie because of having twins?" Nessie was milling in the doorway. I didn't know when she'd gotten there, but I was glad someone was around to ask important questions that my mind couldn't bring to fruition at the moment.

Carlisle frowned. "There is no way to be certain. Odds are, her pregnancy will be only slightly more complicated due to carrying twins, but since she has been drinking blood from the onset, the two factors might cancel one another out. However, if the twins don't get along with one another, there could be serious complications."

"Oh," Nessie replied worriedly. "Yes, as much trouble as I caused my mom, I can't even imagine what would have happened to her if a fight broke out in there." She gestured to Rosalie's stomach as she spoke. "I wish I could communicate with them. Send them some images so they could understand the importance of being still. It's too bad I need direct contact to do that."

"I appreciate the gesture, Nessie," Rosalie said softly, smiling. "Maybe you can help them after they're born. Teach them how to like human food at an earlier age so they're not picky eaters who want blood all the time."

Nessie's worried expression brightened a little. "I can definitely do that! I can show them what my favorite foods are and how much less complicated life is when you eat like a human."

Before we had time to have much more conversation, we heard a car pulling up to the house. It sounded familiar, but... I made a frustrated sound. I was getting better at accessing my memories from my first time around as a vampire, but I couldn't pick this one out.

"Oh no," Nessie cried out. "What's Charlie doing here? This isn't exactly the best time."

Charlie. Yes, that was it. It was the police cruiser I heard pulling up.

"Not the best time," I repeated. That was putting it lightly. His daughter was off having some kind of wild venomous monkey sex, I was a newborn who could barely control myself, Aro was milling around doing who knew what kind of crazy thing, and Rosalie looked absolutely nothing like herself (This was because she was human, not because she was carrying twins. Although she was, and I was the father...). This was going to be fun to explain to Charlie.

We emerged from the study, Carlisle preparing to answer the door to greet Chief Swan. Aro had already flung the door open and was standing outside on the front porch wearing his snuggie, wool socks, and a pair of bunny slippers. "Hello, Bella's father! I am so delighted to meet you!" Aro was shouting at the top of his lungs as Charlie got out of his car.

Charlie began approaching cautiously. "Err, hello, mister, uhhh..."

"Oh, but how dreadfully rude of me," Aro was still shouting. "My name is Aro. I'm a very old friend of Carlisle's. The Cullens have graciously allowed me to stay with them on a temporary basis due to some recent domestic problems I've experienced." Apparently, Alice and Jasper had had enough time to properly brief Aro on who Charlie was and what he knew. Thank goodness for small favors.

"I see," Charlie muttered, shaking his head almost imperceptibly at the strange man standing before him. He was trying not to stare at Aro's hairline, since Aro had ordered some Bump-its after seeing a commercial and was wearing half a dozen of them at the moment. He shook Aro's hand when he reached the porch. "Charlie Swan," he said. Aro stepped aside and gestured for Charlie to enter.

"Where's Bella?" Charlie asked, scanning over all of us with his eyes as quickly as a human could do.

"She and Edward—" Charlie gestured that Aro should speak more quietly, which only made sense considering that the two men were standing about a foot away from one another and Aro was still shouting. He lowered his voice and began again. "Bella and Edward are singing and dancing," Aro finished before any of us had a chance to say anything.

"Singing and dancing?" Charlie asked, bewildered.

"Yes," Aro was just about to demonstrate the song and dance when Jacob tackled him to the ground.

"Ouch! Emmett, why does your pet wolf insist on causing me problems today?" Aro protested.

"It's uh, his way of showing affection," I lied. Thank goodness Jacob had managed to stop Aro before he could demonstrate the "song and dance" Charlie's daughter was performing with her husband. "Aro, it would be better if you didn't, um, didn't talk about that dance in front of Charlie. Need to know," I added in response to the strange look Charlie was giving me. His expression immediately changed to the panicked look he always got when it seemed like someone was about to tell him something he didn't really want to hear.

"Oh, very well," Aro agreed, and Jacob helped him back to his feet. I was very glad he didn't argue, because I was now out of air. I still wasn't entirely confident in my ability to not attack Bella's father, and I was pretty sure she wouldn't be very happy with me if I killed (or turned) Charlie. To say nothing of the limits of the wolves' hospitality.

"So, Popples," Nessie had been calling Charlie "Popples" since Bella had stopped trying to hide her rapid aging from Charlie. She knew intuitively, as she knew so many other things, that Charlie wouldn't appreciate being called by his first name by his granddaughter, but she disliked all of the more traditional terms for grandparents. Any time she used that name, it always seemed to bring a small smile to Charlie's face, and this was no exception. She rushed to Charlie's side in the hopes that her presence would do even more to lighten his suddenly foul mood. It seemed to work. "What brings you here today?"

"Nothing much," Charlie mumbled. He turned his head in an odd fashion, swallowing hard. "I left the station a little early today, and I hadn't seen you or your mom in awhile. Thought I'd drop by."

"Why did you leave early?" Nessie asked, obviously perplexed about Charlie's voice, which was more gruff than normal.

"I'm sure it's nothing, just a little bit of a sore throat."

"Sore throat?" Nessie looked alarmed. "Popples, you look a little pale. Maybe you should get home and go to bed."

Carlisle stepped away from Rosalie to take a closer look at Charlie. He eyed the police chief carefully, to Charlie's apparent discomfort. "Chief Swan, I believe Nessie is correct. You should get some rest before you become more ill."

"It's nothing, Carlisle, just a little sore throat," Charlie protested.

"Charlie, Carlisle's a doctor," Alice reminded him. "If he thinks you're sick, maybe you should listen." She glanced anxiously at Rosalie, whose condition was precarious enough without catching a cold from Charlie. I tensed, preparing to show Bella's father to the door if it came down to it.

"You're all acting awfully secretive," Carlisle remarked. "More than usual. Is something wrong with Bella?"

"Bel—Mom's fine, Popples," Nessie replied, exasperated. "You're the one who isn't fine!"

"I don't see what the fuss is all about!" Charlie protested. "Bella's told me before that you guys can't get sick, so it's not as if there's anything for you to worry about." He took in the way everyone was glancing uncomfortably at one another and eventually followed the steady set of gazes back to where I stood beside Rosalie. His eyes swept over the pair of us, and I hoped he wouldn't say anything that would necessitate my taking a breath.

"Is something the matter with those two?" Charlie whispered to Nessie, obviously believing that the rest of us wouldn't hear. "Emmett's eyes look... red. And Rosalie... Well, she's... I don't know how to say this nicely, but she's not quite as pretty as she usually is."

Jasper was smirking, earning an elbow to the ribs from Alice. I was suddenly extremely grateful that Rosalie was one of the few people present who wouldn't be able to hear Charlie's whispered remarks to his granddaughter.

"Popples, you have no idea," Nessie replied sweetly. "Need to know."

"Right," he grumbled.

"And you need to get home," Nessie insisted. "I promise Mom and I will visit you tomorrow if you'll leave _right now_."

"Okay, okay, I'm going, I'm going," Charlie grumbled. "Tomorrow? You promise?"

"Yes, Popples," Nessie's exasperation was obvious as she began to steer Charlie out the front door. "Do you need someone to drive you home? You _really _aren't looking so great."

"For Pete's sake, you treat me like I'm some kind of frail old man," Charlie complained. "I'll be fine. It isn't as if I live hours away."

"Goodbye, Popples. We'll see you tomorrow. Tell Sue I said hi!" Nessie said cheerfully, shutting the door behind Charlie.

I picked Rosalie up and carried her swiftly to the couch, then returned to my prior position just outside the study to take a deep breath. Charlie's scent, mixed with Aro's and Rosalie's, were like swallowing flames, but after a few more short breaths I felt all right about speaking again. "What's wrong with him?" I demanded of Carlisle.

"Unless I'm very much mistaken, and I rarely am, I believe he has strep throat," Carlisle replied grimly.

I crossed the room to where Carlisle stood so quickly that I wasn't certain whether I had run there or teleported. I also wasn't too concerned about how I'd traveled. Before I could control myself, I had grabbed Carlisle by the shoulders and begun shaking him. "What happens to Rosalie if she catches strep throat?" I demanded.

"Emmett!" Alice exclaimed, leaping to try to pry me off of Carlisle. Esme joined in her endeavor while Jasper worked to calm me down. Between the three of them, they were able to stop me before I'd actually done any damage.

"Carlisle, I—" I began, ashamed of myself.

Carlisle straightened his shirt with one hand while holding up the other to silence me. "Emmett, you are doing remarkably well under the circumstances. You've faced unbelievable hardships for a newborn, and you've pulled through with virtually no lapses in self-control. Do not give lunging at me a second thought. It is far preferable that you should attack one of us than Rosalie or Aro." Carlisle paused long enough to allow me to nod sheepishly. He smiled slightly before continuing. "In normal pregnancies, strep throat is easily treatable and is typically nothing more than a discomfort for the mother. There is virtually no risk to the fetus. In this case, there is even less risk to the fetuses, but I would be somewhat concerned about the ability of Rosalie's body to fight infection while it is struggling just to keep her alive. Ultimately, she has no realistic hope of remaining human after delivery in any event, so the additional risk is minimal."

I groaned, earning a quizzical look from Jasper. "Emmett, weren't you listening? He said it shouldn't be a big problem if she gets sick."

"I know, but he also said it would be uncomfortable for her. I don't want her to be uncomfortable. I want to do everything I can to keep her as comfortable as possible," I replied.

"Excuse me," Rosalie spoke up from the couch, annoyed. "I'm right here. Could you please stop talking about me as if I'm not in the room?"

"Sorry, babe," I replied, going to her side and taking her hand. She shied away from my touch, causing me to begin to go into a slight panic before Jasper had a chance to react.

"No, Emmett, I'm just cold," she assured me.

"Oh," I mumbled, feeling useless. I couldn't even comfort her. My skin was too cold for her to tolerate right now.

"Esme, can you handle dinner on your own?" Nessie asked. "I can sit with Rosalie and help her stay warm."

"Of course dear," Esme answered. "It's nearly finished anyway."

Nessie carefully lifted Rosalie's torso, seating herself underneath so that Rosalie's head, neck, and shoulders rested on her warmer-than-average body. She motioned Jacob over, who cautiously positioned himself under Rosalie's legs.

"Oh, that's much better. Thank you," Rosalie said sincerely.

"Don't sound so surprised, Blondie," Jacob muttered. "Anyway, I'm only helping you out because Nessie wants me to."

"Well, I'm only letting you help me out because Nessie wants you too," Rosalie shot back.

"Hey, what do you call a blonde with two brain cells?" Jacob asked.

Rosalie glared at him.

"Pregnant," Jacob finished, guffawing.

"Jake," Nessie warned.

"Okay, okay," Jacob relented, wrapping his massive hands around Rosalie's feet to warm them. Still feeling useless, I left to find some blankets for Rosalie. When I got back to the living room, Edward and Bella had shown up.

"Was Charlie here?" Bella asked, concerned. His scent was still potent in the air.

"Yes, and he was sick. We made him leave, but I had to promise you and I would visit him tomorrow," Nessie replied.

"Sick? Is he okay?" Bella's voice jumped up an octave while I carefully started layering blankets atop my wife's lounging form.

"Carlisle thinks he has strep throat," Nessie informed her. "Rosalie was here when he was, so we're a little concerned."

"Oh!" Bella exclaimed. "What possessed him to come here when he was sick?" she moaned.

"You know Charlie," Alice replied. "Thinks he's too manly to get sick. He just figured he had a sore throat and it was nothing."

"Oh Rosalie, I'm so sorry," Bella wailed.

"Bells, it's not like you told him to come here," Jacob lectured her. "You've got to stop taking the weight of the world on your shoulders."

"But I—"

"Jacob's right, Bella. You didn't tell him to come here. We don't even know if I'm going to get sick, so quit worrying," Rosalie admonished her.

There was a brief lull in conversation, and Aro spoke up. "Did you have a good time singing and dancing?"

"Singing and... What is he talking about?" Bella asked.

Edward's jaw flew open in momentary horror as he picked the answer out of everyone's minds. Aro started to get up to demonstrate once again, and Edward waved him back down to his seat, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It's nothing, love," he muttered. "Aro was just a little confused about something Emmett said."

"Something Emmett... Never mind, I don't think I want to know," Bella grumbled, glowering at me. "At least not in front of Nessie."

"Dinner's ready," Esme said quietly. "Stay put, I'll bring it out. I don't want anyone disturbing Rosalie's rest."

A few moments later, Aro, Jacob, Nessie, and Rosalie were all eating happily. Jacob and Nessie were balancing their plates on the arms of the couch, while Rosalie was trying to awkwardly hold her plate on her chest and eat. I took the plate from her and held it perfectly still so she could eat more easily. Rosalie flashed me a small smile, still glowing from the news she'd received a short time ago.

Twins. Rosalie was pregnant with twins. I was going to be a father, and I was having twins.

**A/N - I am WAY behind on replying to reviews because, um, well, I was too freaked out by my little writer's block episode to visit the fanfic website at all. And now I've lost track of who I have and haven't replied to. So... If you left me a review in the last couple of weeks, I'm really, really, REALLY sorry. I PROMISE I'll reply to all the signed reviews from this chapter! XD**


	34. Illness

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Thirty-Four - Illness

The following morning, the consequences of Charlie's visit were immediately clear. Rosalie awoke hours before sunrise, groaning in pain. I rushed to her side, but there was nothing I could do to offer her comfort. My wife clutched both slender, fragile hands to her throat as if applying light pressure could somehow ease her suffering. It pained me enormously to see her agony. How was I going to manage watching her burn as I had twice burned before?

After a few hours, it became apparent that Rosalie wasn't the only casualty of Charlie's visit. "Em_mett_," Aro whined from the couch where he had set up a small camp. I sighed in exasperation. Why he insisted on still calling on me for every little thing, I had no idea.

"Because you were the first to attend to him," Edward's quiet answer to my unspoken question caused me to scowl.

"Well, can't someone else do it? I'm a little busy here tending to my wife." Rosalie looked at me, puzzled. Of course she couldn't hear Edward from the living room. "Talking to Edward, babe," I informed her. If she paid any attention to what I'd said, she gave no indication.

Carlisle bustled into the room with a cart full of medical supplies. "Emmett, why don't you go ahead and check on Aro?" Carlisle asked. "I'll be busy checking Rosalie's vital signs and monitoring her for changes when I start her on medication."

"Fine," I muttered. I headed downstairs, feeling useless. The burn in my throat was becoming more pronounced. I'd just fed the day before, but it felt like it had been at least a week. Living in a house with two humans as a newborn was sheer torture. I understood why Carlisle had banished me from the room. He might need to stick Rosalie to test her blood for something, and my control couldn't be trusted that far. More than that though, the room simply wasn't big enough to accommodate Rosalie, Carlisle, me, and my ever-present shadow, Jasper. His concern about my ability to rein myself in wasn't unwarranted; he had personally observed me lunging at Carlisle only hours ago. Still, it was frustrating to know that I was unlikely to be able to have any type of private moment with my own wife again until after she had been turned.

"Good morning, Aro," I greeted him, letting Jasper send me a false sense of calm and contentment.

"Emmett," Aro whined. "How long was it until you regained your sight?"

Well, now that question didn't make one bit of sense. "I'm sorry?" I replied, unsure of how else I could answer.

"After you became a vampire again," Aro winced. "How long were you still seeing things as a human does?"

I blinked a few times, still baffled by this line of questioning. "Um. It was exactly like the first time. I opened my eyes and the world was clearer."

"Oh no. Something has gone dreadfully wrong with my second transformation, I fear."

"Aro, you haven't been turned yet," I replied, confused.

"No, no that's not possible. My throat burns. I must be a vampire again."

I narrowed my eyes and spun to face Edward, who was standing behind the couch concealing a laugh. "You might have told me that he thought he was a vampire," I accused him.

"I might have," Edward acknowledged coolly. I supposed I deserved a little antagonizing now that things were returning to normal. I'd certainly done enough to antagonize him over the years. I turned my attention back to Aro, who was burrowing himself into a blanket while still wearing his Snuggie.

"Aro, I'm sorry to say, you're suffering from an illness called strep throat. You're not a vampire," I informed him.

Aro stared at me for a long moment before finally crying out, "Well then you must change me at once! I will surely die!"

"Aro, you're not going to die from strep throat," I explained patiently.

"But I feel that I will die!" Aro insisted. "I'm certain of it!"

"Alice?" I called over my shoulder. "Little help here?"

"I don't see you dying," she chirped on cue.

"Yes, because Emmett's going to change me now," Aro snapped.

I sighed, placing the palm of my hand across my entire face for a few seconds. "Aro," I began before even removing my hand from my face, speaking around my fingers, "Even if you _were _about to die, which you aren't, surely you must realize that I'm the absolute worst choice out of everyone to change you. I'm still a newborn. The odds of me killing you are about 999,999 in a million."

"Then Alice...?" Aro asked.

"I'm not a newborn, but I have doubts about my ability to turn anyone. I wouldn't turn Bella when she asked me to," Alice answered.

"Jasper?" Aro went on hopefully.

"My control is somewhere between Alice's and Emmett's. It's a bad idea."

"Edward? Edward, my friend, you must help me! You don't wish me to die, do you?"

Edward smirked. "I happen to be the other doctor in the family. I'm quite convinced that you will survive."

"Esme!" Aro called. Esme walked calmly into the living room from Carlisle's study.

"I'm sorry, Aro, but Carlisle needs to be the one to do this. I want to honor the spirit of the treaty with our wolf allies." She turned and disappeared back into the study. I had no idea what she was up to in there, but I suspected it was "hiding from Aro." At this moment, I would have liked very much to be up to the same thing.

"Bella!" Aro cried out. Bella had just descended the staircase with Nessie. The two of them had decided that it would behoove them for Nessie to skip school today so that they could visit Charlie before he became very much more suspicious about why he'd been given the bum's rush the previous evening.

Bella threw back her head and laughed uncharacteristically. "If you think for one second that I'm going to turn someone else when Leah is already calling for my head over what happened with Emmett, you're nuts." Seeing Aro's lower lip quiver, she added in a much more Bella-like tone "I'm sorry, Aro. You're just going to have to wait for Carlisle."

Aro turned his head slightly. "Nessie?"

Nessie's eyes grew wide. "Dude, I'm not even venomous. I couldn't turn you even if I wanted to."

"I thought we discussed that you weren't supposed to go around calling people 'dude,'" Bella chastised Nessie. "Those werewolves are a bad influence."

"Who's a bad influence?" Jacob called out, striding through the front door. I had no idea what he was doing here, but I could only assume that he was planning to accompany Bella and Nessie to visit Charlie.

"You are, apparently," Nessie grumbled.

Bella charged Jacob and stuck her finger in his chest. "Seth is always going around calling everyone 'dude,' and it's rubbing off on Nessie. It's entirely your fault as his Alpha!"

Jacob blinked. "Did you just call her Nessie?"

"You heard what Rose pointed out to me. Don't you change the subject, mister. I expect your wolves to display a little more decorum around my daughter."

"Don't look at me! Her uncle says the same thing all the time!" Jacob threw his hands in the air in surrender.

Bella glowered at me. "Oh come on, Bella, what's the big deal? It's not even a bad word!" I exclaimed.

"I don't think it's appropriate," she grumbled.

"Appropriate? You're going to complain about what's appropriate? Seriously, Bella, it's not like her boyfriend is sneaking in her window every night and laying in her bed with her," I reasoned.

Nessie's head snapped around to stare at Bella. "Something you want to tell me?"

"No," Bella said between clenched teeth. "Let's go," she added.

"Wait!" Aro called out. "Jacob, you must help me!"

"With what?" Jacob asked.

"I need to be turned into a vampire again immediately. I'm going to die."

"He's not going to die," Edward interjected, exasperated. "He just caught Charlie's strep throat."

"Oh, the pain," Aro groaned. "The pain of it all! I will surely pass before the sun sets!"

Jacob snickered. "Even if you were going to die, how exactly do you think I'm going to turn you into a vampire? I'm not one of them, remember?"

"Oh, yes, that's true," Aro remarked. "Then you must turn me into a werewolf!"

Jacob gaped at Aro. "It doesn't work that way," he explained. "I thought you knew that."

"Someone must do something!" Aro cried, launching himself forward onto a pile of pillows, his fists clenched. "I'm dying! Doesn't anyone care that I'm dying?"

"Let's get out of here Bells," Jacob suggested. He trailed behind Bella and Nessie as they exited.

"Not going along?" I asked Edward.

"There are two sick humans in the house, one of whom hasn't been ill in decades, while the other hasn't been sick in millennia. Although Aro is admittedly complaining more than is warranted—"

"—Well what do you want me to do? Die silently?" Aro interrupted.

Edward cleared his throat and began to speak louder. "Rosalie may be in need of additional care. If Carlisle should need to leave to procure additional supplies, it would be unwise for me to be absent, since I am the only other person present with a medical degree."

"Lord that over me some more, why don't you?" I grumbled. "It's not our fault we all had things to do with our spare time besides go to college over and over again."

"Nor is it my fault that I had a good deal of free time to fill up before I met Bella."

"Jasper, let's get some fresh air," Alice suggested. "Aro is going to be like this all day."

"I won't be if you'd change me!" Aro insisted.

"He's like a broken record," Jasper muttered as he followed Alice outside.

"Oh, Emmett?" Alice called over her shoulder. "Don't worry, you won't hurt Aro." With that, the two of them disappeared out of view, closing the door behind them.

I turned back to Edward. "Well that was cryptic," I observed.

Edward remained silent, but the corners of his mouth twitched upward slightly. Apparently, Alice had seen something and Edward didn't see fit to share it with me. I flopped backward onto the chair next to the couch, crossing my arms in front of my chest. "Hrmph."

"Emmett, dear, do act your age," Esme scolded. I noticed she was carrying her purse and had a light sweater draped over her shoulders. The sweater was undoubtedly designed to help keep up the human façade, which, coupled with the purse, could only mean that she was going somewhere.

"Sure thing, Esme. My back hurts. The kids won't stay off my lawn. I've got this funny mole on my leg. The cost of prescription medicine is too high!" I replied.

Esme sighed impatiently. "I didn't mean to act your chronological age. Carlisle has given me a list of supplies to buy for Rosalie from the drug store. I'm not sure how long it will take me, since I've never needed to buy most of the things on this list before. It's too bad throat lozenges wouldn't work for us," she murmured thoughtfully, gazing down at her list. She turned her attention back to me. "In case I'm gone longer than expected, I've prepared lunch for Aro and Rosalie. It's on the top shelf of the refrigerator. Rosalie's blood is in a jar next to it, and there is also fruit punch for Aro in a pitcher. Don't get the two mixed up."

I chuckled. "I'm pretty sure I can tell the difference between blood and fruit punch. One smells like food. The other doesn't."

Esme looked at me disbelievingly, as if she wasn't quite sure that she could put it past me to confuse blood with fruit punch. "Well then, I'll be back as soon as I can," she said, turning to leave.

"What about _me_?" Aro pleaded.

"Some of these items are for both of you," Esme explained patiently.

"I need you to buy me a grave marker!" Aro insisted.

Esme turned her head so that Aro couldn't see her rolling her eyes and strode out before he could press her further.

"Is anyone even listening to me?" Aro whined.

"Looks like it's just you and me then," I told Edward, pointedly ignoring Aro's moaning.

"Actually, Carlisle needs me upstairs with Rosalie," Edward informed me. He rose and crossed to the staircase at his top speed.

"Edward!" I called louder than was necessary. "You can't seriously leave me alone with him!" I looked back in Aro's direction. He had flipped over onto his back and was lying almost motionless, his tongue hanging out and lolled over to one side. The only movement was coming from his arms, which were flung out to his sides and flopping around like a pair of dead fish. "What if I can't control myself?" I added desperately. If Edward wouldn't respond to the threat of Aro annoying me to death, maybe he'd respond to the threat of me drinking him to death?

"Remember what Alice said," Edward called back.

I narrowed my eyes to slits and stared at Aro, my arms still folded over my chest. "I'm not going to turn you," I grunted.

"I'm going to dieeeeeeeeeeeee," Aro groaned, dragging the last word out for several seconds.

I snorted, and the two of us sat in silence for a few minutes. Suddenly, Aro started to push himself back into a seated position using his elbows. He leaned forward slightly, reaching out with one arm. "I can't reach the remote," he complained.

"Oh for Pete's sake," I lamented, getting up to hand him the remote.

"While you're up, would you fluff my pillow?" he asked. I sighed, complying with his request. "I need some water. Very cold water."

I went into the kitchen to get him a glass of ice water. When I handed it to him, he lifted it to his lips and winced. "I need a straw," he told me. I went to retrieve one. "Not that kind, the kind that bends," he added, straining his neck to see what I was getting. "Would you bend it for me?" he asked. "Oh, you bent it too far." I bent it back in the other direction. "That's better," he said, sounding more cheerful than he had all day.

He took several sips of water through the straw, clutching at his throat as he swallowed. When he was finished, he began flipping aimlessly through the channels on the television. "There's nothing good on!" he complained, throwing the remote to the ground like a child having a temper tantrum. Since he'd previously broken the remote, the batteries went flying out of it as soon as it hit the carpet. "I need a book!"

I tried to pretend I hadn't heard him, but he just grew more insistent. "Em_mett_, I need a book," he repeated.

I sighed. "What kind of book?"

"I don't know. A book."

I trudged upstairs to what was now Nessie's room. She had the same sort of taste in books that her parents did, so there should be a collection of classics available. I grabbed a few selections from her shelf and brought them to Aro.

"I don't like any of these books," he protested.

"How do you know? Have you read them?" I asked, exasperated.

"I just know," he insisted. "I need a different book. A good one."

I returned the books to the shelves upstairs and went into Alice and Jasper's room. I grabbed some of Alice's fashion magazines and a couple of historical biographies that belonged to Jasper and brought them downstairs.

"I said a _book_, Emmett. Those are magazines."

"I was just making sure," I told him defensively. "What about these books?" I offered him the biographies.

"I don't like those books either."

I returned these books, too, to their rightful places. I swore under my breath as I began poking through Carlisle's study. I put together a selection of religious books and historical texts and brought them out, knowing that Aro wasn't going to like these either. I wasn't the slightest bit surprised when he didn't. Over the course of the next hour, I offered him every single book in the entire house and he turned his nose up at all of them. In desperation, I brought the first few books back down again that I'd brought to him. He was a human. He might not remember.

"Is this book about horses?" Aro asked, pointing to _Black Beauty_.

"I think it's about a horse, yes," I confirmed. I had never actually read it.

"Hrmph," Aro grunted. "I suppose it will do."

"Thank goodness," I muttered as I returned the other books to their shelves upstairs. I heard Edward chuckling. _Shut up, jerkface_, I told him silently.

"Em_mett_," Aro called again from downstairs.

"You know, for somebody with a sore throat, he sure can yell awfully loud," I remarked as I went back downstairs. "Yes, Aro?"

"My hands are too dry to turn the pages. Will you turn them for me?"

I stared at him, incredulous. "You have got to be kidding me."

"My hands are dry," he repeated.

"I'll get you some lotion, then," I offered. Normally we wouldn't have even _had_ lotion in the house, but Aro had seen a commercial several days before and had demanded "some of that product with the crocodile." It was fortunate that Edward had been able to see the commercial in his mind to see what he was talking about. I brought Aro the lotion, and he proceeded to keep pumping it into his hand until he had about two tablespoons of it in his palm.

"Aro, I think that's a bit too much," I told him.

"My hands are _very_ dry," he responded smugly. I waited several minutes for him to try to get rid of all of the lotion in his hands. "Emmett, I need a towel," he said at last. Once I'd gotten him one, he went on to say that now his hands were too wet to turn the pages. Grudgingly, I sat beside him and did my best to hold my breath while I turned pages for him.

"You're turning them too fast," he complained. I began turning the pages more slowly. "Now you're not turning them fast enough."

"It would help if you'd tell me when to turn the page," I suggested.

"My throat hurts. I don't want to talk."

"You've been talking all day."

"Yes, because I need things."

"You need me to turn the pages."

"_Edward_," Aro shouted. "Will you come turn the pages for me? Emmett can't read my mind."


	35. Burning

**Hey ladies! Sorry, I've actually had this chapter ready to go for a few days now, but because of the internal error that FFDN is experiencing, I haven't been able to update. It took me until today to learn about the workaround. Eep! Anyhoo, here you go!**

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Thirty-Five – Burning

I could hardly wait for Carlisle to have time to attend to Aro. After reading to him for awhile, he decided that he wanted to _do_ something, but he didn't know what. Eventually I found a book of crossword puzzles for him, which seemed to satisfy him once I convinced him that it wasn't the same thing as reading a book. Ultimately, though, I was doing the crossword puzzle for him. I would read the clues to him, he would ponder it and ask what I thought, and I would give him the answer and write it into the puzzle. He was quite pleased with himself every time "he" finished a puzzle.

I was trying very hard not to be preoccupied worrying about Rosalie. I knew that if anything was wrong, Carlisle or Edward would summon me right away. Every now and again when my thoughts would dwell on her for too long, Edward would call downstairs "She's fine, Emmett." Still, I would feel better when I could see her again. It was hard for me to believe that I'd lasted nearly a week without laying eyes on my angel. Twice.

At long last, Carlisle came downstairs. "I'm sorry for the delay, Emmett. I wanted to run a number of tests, and she didn't want you to see her while she tried to drink blood. It was very painful for her, and she was afraid you would do something foolish to try to 'rescue' her. She is sleeping now. You may visit her, if you wish, but try not to wake her."

"Finally," I muttered. "Aro's all yours." I rose quickly and slipped upstairs before Aro had time to finish complaining. Downstairs, I could hear Carlisle making preparations to change Aro. As obnoxious as he was, for some reason, I couldn't help feeling like I'd miss him just a little when he was gone.

I sat at Rosalie's bedside and hummed while she slept. I found myself wishing that she would talk in her sleep like Bella used to do. Carlisle must have given her a light sedative, because she didn't toss and turn at all. She slept peacefully, which I knew she needed to do, considering how sick she was. My eyes drifted to the bump on her stomach, which was clear to see even covered by blankets as it was. The idea that I was having twins still hadn't fully sunk in. I kept rolling the words "twins" and "father" around in my head, and they just didn't sound right. I was as thrilled as could be about my upcoming responsibilities, but I truly felt like I had somehow cheated. No one deserved to have this much happiness.

After a few hours, Rosalie stirred and eventually woke up. She gave me a small smile, which I was sure was probably the best she could muster in her current state. "How's Aro?" she rasped.

"Really? That's what you want to say first?" I teased.

Rosalie rolled her eyes, then clasped a hand to them. "Ow," she complained. "I shouldn't have done that."

"Don't hurt yourself just because I'm a damn fool. I don't want you to spend the next hundred years in pain."

"You planned to stop being a damn fool in a hundred years?"

"Probably not, but anything's possible. To answer your question, Aro's burning now. Carlisle started changing him a little while ago," I replied.

"I want to see him," Rosalie whispered.

"There isn't much to see. You know how this goes. There's no need to upset yourself," I said gently.

"I know, but I want to see him. It's because of him that this," she gestured to her stomach, which was now more visible because she was sitting upright, "was possible."

Strangely, I hadn't actually thought of it in those precise terms. I knew that Aro's arrival had brought all of this about, but it had never dawned on me to be… grateful to him. "What my Rose wants, my Rose gets," I said, lifting her carefully off the bed.

"I can walk," she protested, but she didn't press the issue when I lifted her anyway. Instead, she nuzzled her head against my neck and closed her eyes while I carried her down the stairs. Aro was on the couch in apparent agony. I couldn't help feeling badly for him. I was surprised, however, that he wasn't screaming. I had expected him to scream throughout the entire transformation. Even more surprising was the crowd gathered around him. Alice, Jasper, and Esme had returned from their respective trips and were huddled around the couch along with Carlisle and Edward. Bella, Nessie, and Jacob were still at Charlie's house, as far as I was aware. They weren't present, in any event.

"Something isn't right," Carlisle whispered to me.

"What do you mean?" I asked, setting Rosalie gently on the loveseat.

"It has only been a few hours, but he's made absolutely no progress toward becoming a vampire. He is still fully human. The venom is having no effect on him, except to cause him pain. His throat is still sore, according to Edward, and he is still running a fever. His illness should already be healed by now; it was that way with the rest of you."

Confused, I looked at where Aro laid sweating and whimpering lightly. He was clutching at his throat, which should be the least painful part of his body by now. He also shouldn't be sweating with fever any longer. He should be far more human than vampire still, but Carlisle was right. This wasn't normal.

"I'm afraid of what might happen if things don't improve quickly," Carlisle continued in a low whisper. "The presence of the venom in his bloodstream will prevent any medication to reduce his fever from working. His temperature is already quite high. Left unchecked, I'm not certain that he can survive." Carlisle shook his head. "To think that someone could die in this day and age from strep throat… It's unimaginable. I should have waited until his illness had passed," he lamented.

"Carlisle," Edward was speaking in the same hushed tone, "you couldn't possibly have known. History has taught you that vampire venom heals any injury or illness in moments."

"Still, this is his second transformation. We had no way of knowing what would happen," Carlisle continued to blame himself.

"I didn't have any trouble," I matched their whispers with my own. "I'm under the impression that my transformation was completely normal."

"Yes, but you weren't sick," Carlisle whispered back.

"True," I said slowly, realizing something horrifying. "Carlisle, from what Edward told me, I stayed intoxicated for quite awhile after the burning started. That shouldn't have been possible, should it?"

Carlisle blinked, pressing his fingers lightly to his temple. "No, it shouldn't. I don't know why I didn't think of that until now. Something _was_ different about your second transformation too. I should have realized…" His voice trailed off as he stared at Aro's frail form on the couch. Rosalie was staring at him, her eyes wide with fear. She couldn't possibly have heard us speaking, so I had no idea if she had figured out on her own that something was wrong or if she was just afraid of what would happen to her in a few weeks. In either event, I raced to her side to try to soothe her nerves.

"Shh, it's all right, Rose. Everything's going to be all right," I told her. I knew my words weren't entirely true, but she needed to be reassured right now, even if things could turn out very, very wrong indeed. I didn't want to think about what was going to happen to all of us if Aro died here, today, on our couch. Caius would have no reason to spare any of us when he came for the wolves. I wouldn't even have time to get to know my children before we were all reduced to nothing more than ash and rubble. I wondered if anyone would even remember the strange family who had attended high school with them.

"Emmett, he's not healing," she whispered in alarm.

Well, at least I knew now exactly what she was afraid of.

"How can you tell?" I asked.

"It's obvious. Just look at him," she said. I supposed she had a point. His sore throat and fever were about as plain as my own hands, and it would have been foolish to assume that only a vampire could pick up on these things.

"I know," I told her sadly. "Carlisle doesn't know what to do. He doesn't understand what's happening or why. We just realized that my transformation wasn't entirely normal either,"

Her eyes snapped to meet mine. "How so?" she demanded, sounding exactly like her old self. For the briefest of moments, you wouldn't be able to tell that she was ill, pregnant, or even that she wasn't a vampire. The ferocity of her voice was back, the intensity of her gaze the same, even though the color of her eyes had changed from gold to blue. For a moment, I became lost in them until she brought me back to reality with an impatient shake of her head.

"Well, err, I went out with some of the wolves earlier that night and we had a lot to drink," I explained sheepishly. "From what Edward's told me, I stayed pretty toasty for awhile after I started burning, which really shouldn't have happened. The venom should have returned me to a fully alert state in minutes."

Rosalie tilted her head thoughtfully, turning back to look at Aro once again. "This was before I arrived?" she asked.

"Yes," I replied. "By the time you got here, the alcohol had worn off. Why?"

Edward's mouth pressed shut in a hard line. "That's an intriguing idea, Rosalie."

I glared at him. "What is? A man's life is at stake. For once, will you just spit it out?"

"Rosalie wonders whether her return to you was what brought about your ability to transform. In other words, since rejection by your true mate brought about your humanity, perhaps you wouldn't have been able to transform again while she still rejected you," Edward spoke rapidly, his voice flat.

I waited a moment for his words to sink in. The others did likewise. "I didn't see this happening," Alice winced. "I would have warned you if I had."

"Do you see any chance of Sulpicia suddenly changing her mind?" I asked. That was, after all, what it had taken for me to complete my transformation successfully. It was a long shot, but it was worth asking.

Alice shook her head in despair. "Not in the slightest. She and Marcus haven't decided where to travel next, but she's very much enjoying her new freedom and independence. I can't tell what she's thinking, of course, but I would be surprised if she even remembered Aro's existence."

"Damn," I muttered, apparently echoing the sentiments of the others.

Esme pressed a cool washcloth to Aro's forehead, which was about the only thing anyone could think of to do for him right now. If he couldn't change while his mate rejected him, he couldn't get her back, and there was no way to expel the venom from his system.

"What if he doesn't die from his illness?" Jasper asked. "I mean, we don't know for certain that his fever will get that bad," he reasoned.

Carlisle whispered so quietly that we all had to strain to hear. "If Rosalie is correct, he will still be unable to transform, but he will continue to be in agony. There would be only one way to ever end his suffering."

A hushed silence fell over us all. One of us would have to kill Aro, who had, in the most unlikely of circumstances, become our friend and even, perhaps, a member of our family. It would be the most humane thing to do; certainly more humane than allowing him to continue to exist in this kind of excruciating pain. He would die in a few days anyway, since he would find it impossible to eat or drink while enduring this suffering.

"What is it?" Rosalie asked. I had momentarily forgotten that she wouldn't be able to hear.

"Carlisle thinks you could be right," I whispered in her ear. "If Aro manages to survive his illness, he'll go on like this until one of us…" I couldn't bear to finish the sentence.

"No!" Rosalie whispered back fiercely. "No, you can't. Oh Aro!"

"There must be some other way," Esme frowned. "There simply must be some way to save him. A complete blood transfusion?"

Carlisle shook his head. "It wouldn't work. As soon as we introduced new blood into his system, the venom would rush into it. The only way we could attempt to accomplish such a thing would be to drain him completely of the infected blood, which would kill him."

"But Bella—" Alice began.

"The venom hadn't spread throughout her body yet," Edward interrupted. "I was able to suck out the infected blood because of that. Aro has had venom in his system for several hours now."

"Do we have any way to reach Sulpicia?" Jasper asked.

"What good would that do?" My words were a little ruder than I'd intended. I softened my tone before continuing. "First of all, she probably won't be inclined to help if she doesn't give a rat's ass about him. Second, even if she _did_ show up, she won't take him back unless she truly feels like it."

"Perhaps she could be convinced to take him back long enough for him to transform?" Jasper offered.

"Which brings me to my third point," I continued, "even if we could somehow magically convince her to do the exact opposite of what she wants to do without giving her any kind of good reason why she should do it, as soon as he was transformed and she rejected him again, he'd become a human again and we'd be right back where we started."

"Oh," Jasper murmured. "Good point."

"It's true," Alice confirmed, "she has no reason to want to help us. She has no reason to care whether Caius kills the wolves, and by extension, us. Every version of the future I see where we ask her to help, she refuses outright because there's nothing in it for her."

We fell silent once again. I pulled Rosalie closer to me, gazing on at Aro in sorrow. Only weeks before, we had been hoping that Aro's disappearance from Alice's visions meant that he would die. Now we couldn't bear the thought.

"Alice," I said quietly. "Can you see what's going to happen to him?"

Alice shook her head. "Something is blocking me from seeing anything about that."

"I guess that means we can expect Bella to return with Nessie and Jacob soon," I tried to joke, but even I wasn't amused. "Well, maybe one of them will have an idea," I added. Despite my best efforts, there was no hint of hopefulness in my voice. None of us had even an inkling of an idea. How could we even begin to hope that there was a chance of being able to help Aro?

As if on cue, Bella's truck pulled up to the house. "I can't believe she drives that thing," Rosalie muttered under her breath. I managed a short chuckle at the fact that Bella's truck was so loud that even a sick human could hear it.

Nessie and Jacob stepped inside. "Bella decided to stay with Charlie for a little while longer," Nessie explained before any of us had a chance to question her. "Sue's got her hands full trying to take care of him. You know how men are when they get sick."

"Do I ever," I grumbled before I could stop myself. I immediately wanted to punch myself in the face for saying anything negative about Aro now that he was doomed.

"What's going on?" Jacob asked, taking in our bleak expressions and correctly interpreting them to mean that something was wrong.

Carlisle filled the two of them in on the specifics. Nessie gasped in horror at the idea of Aro living in agony until one of us put an end to his life. Jacob's expression remained unreadable, but I gathered from Jasper slowly edging away that he was less than pleased about the outcome.

"You're suggesting that one of you should kill a human," Jacob finally said. "I know we gave you some leniency on the treaty, but that's a clear violation. We won't allow that."

I felt my eyes widen in shock as I stared back at Jacob, who was standing calmly, his arms folded over his chest in defiance. His chin was lifted and he stood tall, practically daring one of us with his stance to go against him. Did he not understand what he was saying? Was he incapable of recognizing compassion?

"You can't actually expect us to allow Aro to live on for days, weeks, or years in this kind of pain?" Edward was the first to speak, and he did so with no small degree of incredulousness.

"It's not our fault that you screwed up," Jacob shot back.

"It's not Aro's fault either!" Alice hissed. "You would have him suffer for our mistake?"

"Ought to teach you not to take transforming others so lightly," Jacob said.

"I cannot _believe_ you would behave this way!" Nessie shouted. "You would actually attack us because we were forced to end a man's suffering with compassion after making a mistake we couldn't _possibly_ have known was a mistake, all in the name of trying to _save_ all of you from certain death?"

"We wouldn't hurt you, Nessie. You know that."

"I can't believe you'd even suggest that it's about me and my own life!" Nessie's voice became shriller by the moment. So much for trying to protect Aro from the cold reality of what was taking place. There was absolutely no way he hadn't heard her. "Jacob Black, you're talking about murdering my entire family when all they did was try to help you. If they'd been willing to just let you all die, none of this would have happened."

"Regardless of the reason, we can't allow vampires to end a human life. You know my hands are bound by my own bloodline on this, Nessie. I know it's your family and you love them, but what do you want me to do?" Jacob pleaded.

"Try thinking for _yourself_ instead of acting like such a pigheaded oaf whose only concern is for obeying some tradition about killing vampires. What if…" Nessie stopped short. "Jacob, what if _I_ was the one to kill Aro? Would you kill me for it?"

"Nessie, we couldn't let you live with something like that—" Edward began.

"Shut up, Edward," Rosalie snapped. "I want to hear the dog's answer."

Jacob glowered at Rosalie while he answered Nessie's question. "You already know we wouldn't."

"So I get a free pass to do whatever I want. I can go on a rampage and murder half the town for absolutely no reason and you won't do a thing about it, but if my family euthanizes Aro—"

"It's not euthanasia when they're the ones who caused the problem in the first place!" Jacob protested.

"To help _you_ and your pack of mutts!" Nessie argued, her eyes filling with tears of frustration and anger. "Don't you _dare_ ask me to choose between you and my family." Nessie's eyes had spilled over, tears streaming down her face. "You won't like my decision."

"That's just the way it is with you Swan girls, isn't it?" Jacob shouted, taking a step toward Nessie. He was shaking visibly. "Always choosing bloodsuckers over me. Always telling me how I'm important, but when the chips are down, you run off to your bunch of freaks and forget I ever existed. Good old Jacob Black, good for a laugh now and again, but not worth picking when push comes to shove."

"Jacob, I think you'd better go now," Jasper warned him.

Jacob didn't move.

"I wish you'd _never_ imprinted on me. _Get out of my house, you son of a bitch!_" Nessie shrieked.

Jacob stepped back, stunned. I started to get up, preparing to escort him out, but Edward motioned me back down. I shrugged, figuring that there were plenty of other vampires gathered around to help Jacob find the door. "Nessie, I'm sorry, I didn't mean—" he began.

"Now!" she shouted, pointing at the door and stamping her foot. "I want you to leave _right now_."

Jacob hung his head and left, shutting the door quietly behind him. Nessie flung herself into her father's arms, sobbing inconsolably. Jasper did his best to try to soothe her, but it didn't seem to be doing any good.

"It's too bad rejection won't turn _him_ back into a human," she mumbled in between sobs.

_She'll forgive him,_ I thought.

_Probably,_ Edward mouthed to me over his daughter's head.

_If she doesn't though, too bad for him that he'll never be able to truly let her go._

Edward nodded. "He deserves it," he said aloud in response to my thought, although Nessie believed it was in response to her remark.

"Daddy," Nessie moaned into Edward's chest in a rare display of emotion, "do you know what the worst part is?"

"I know, sweetheart," Edward replied softly in response to her thoughts.

"What?" I asked, curious and wanting to help.

Nessie sniffed. "Come here, Emmett," she said, holding out her hand.

I obeyed and waited for her to press her hand to my face. My eyes unfocused slightly as she sent me a series of images and emotions centered around Jacob. "No matter how terribly you want to hate him, you still love him," I summarized. Nessie nodded. She had always loved Jacob, of course, if not in precisely the way he might have preferred.

Alice gasped. "Nessie, that's it! You're a genius!"


	36. Speech

**For anyone who may be confused by some of the reviews up referring to a hilarious joke that fooled everyone, for April Fool's Day, I originally posted up a "fake" chapter 36 called "Foolish." I moved it to a one-shot of the same name so that I could maintain the proper story continuity. Feel free to check it out in my profile if you missed the joke. =) The real chapter is below! Enjoy!**

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Thirty-Six – Speech

I stared at Alice, stunned. Out of my peripheral vision, I could see that I wasn't the only one. Everyone was gaping at her. I expected Edward to start doing his obnoxious "having half of a conversation in front of us" thing, but the expression on his face was one of disbelief, and he merely shook his head. Nessie was the first to break the silence.

"What?" she sniffled. "How am I a genius? I called Jacob a—"

"We all heard it, Ness," I cut her off. Edward hadn't said a word about her rare outburst when it happened, but I was pretty sure he might actually chastise her if she repeated herself. He rolled his eyes at me, and I had no idea whether that was supposed to mean that I was right or wrong.

Nessie nodded. "Right, of course you did," she murmured miserably. She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry you all had to hear that."

"Don't apologize, Nessie," Rosalie croaked firmly. "He had it coming to him."

"Can we please get back to Alice's plan?" I interrupted desperately. "Ness, we're all very sorry about what happened with Jacob and none of us blames you for your reaction. I'd be more than happy to talk to you about it at length a little later, but right now, if Alice has an idea of how to help Aro, I think we all need to hear it." I forced myself to gaze at Aro's writhing form on our couch, although it was painful to behold. "We owe him that much," I added.

Nessie nodded again, wiping away tears on her sleeve. "How do we help Aro?" she whispered.

Alice had a slight smirk on her face, but wasn't smiling as broadly as she usually did when she had a brilliant plan. "I realized when Nessie and Jacob were arguing that Nessie can get over Jacob much more easily than he can get over her," she began.

"Alice, sweetheart, I think they want you to get to the point," Jasper told her gently.

Alice pouted slightly. She had a flair for the dramatic and didn't appreciate being asked to cut to the chase. Normally, we didn't have much trouble indulging her, but with Aro in excruciating pain, every second counted. She caught the impatience in our stares and sighed, relenting. "We have to get Aro to let go of Sulpicia," she explained.

"Won't that cause her to turn into a human too?" Esme asked anxiously. "Traveling with Marcus, that would surely put her life at risk."

"I don't think so," Alice said slowly. "I _think_ that since Sulpicia has already severed the mate bond, Aro letting go of her won't have that effect on her any longer. The only reason it worked that way with Emmett and Rosalie was because Rosalie had already come back and accepted Emmett as her mate again."

"Even if it does endanger her life, at this point, there's a lot more at stake," Jasper said reasonably. "I know you value the sanctity of human life highly, Esme, and none of us wants to have to sacrifice her life for the rest of us, but we're talking about one life compared to all of us, all of the wolves, and everyone the Volturi will senselessly murder while Caius rules alone."

Carlisle nodded soberly. "It's not a sacrifice we would be willing to make lightly, but I agree with Jasper in this case. We don't know whether Sulpicia would become human, and if she did, we don't know that Marcus would harm her. He certainly has control of his bloodlust. He is thousands of years old, not a crazed newborn who wouldn't be able to resist the urge to drink from the nearest human. I think we need to be willing to risk the small chance that Sulpicia could be placed in danger, given the near certainty that we will all perish if we don't at least try Alice's plan."

I pursed my lips. "How do we get him to let go of Sulpicia? Have any of you ever tried to let go of your mates?" Edward stiffened. "Not exactly easy, is it?"

"No," Edward spoke quietly. "I would wager to say it was the most difficult thing I have ever attempted to do, and I still failed."

"More importantly, Alice, why do you think this would work?" Nessie asked curiously. She had all but regained control of herself, but she was still speaking into Edward's shoulder as he maintained his grip on her.

"It's mostly just a theory, I'll admit," Alice confessed. "It makes sense though. Emmett's transformation wasn't exactly normal, as he pointed out. He was still able to transform though. Either that was because Rosalie came back, or it was because he was able to let her go."

I was still listening to Alice's thoughts when I realized that the others were staring at me, waiting for me to say something. "Uh…" I shifted uncomfortably, automatically reaching for Rosalie's hand. "I suppose it was a little of both. Rose, I'm so sorry."

Rosalie shook her head. "Don't be. I forced your hand."

"Alice, can you see it working?" Carlisle asked.

"No," Alice sounded crestfallen. "I don't know if that means it won't work or if it just means that there are too many factors in the way. I think we should try though. What have we got to lose?"

"Aro?" Carlisle asked. "Aro, can you hear me?"

Aro opened his mouth to reply, but instead of words, what came out was a long, agonized shriek of pure suffering.

"I think that's a yes," Jasper said.

"He's heard everything," Edward spoke up in a clipped tone. "You needn't have asked him."

"Sorry, Son," Carlisle directed his words back to Aro again. "Aro, my old friend. I know what we're asking of you is tantamount to impossible. You must try though. You must. Your life, my life, my family's life, everything depends upon it."

"No pressure though," I said under my breath. Rosalie punched me in the arm, hurting her hand. "Don't do that, babe," I scolded her gently, wrapping my fingers around hers to cool them and prevent swelling.

"Emmett has a point though," Jasper remarked. "Telling him that he has to let go of Sulpicia because we're all going to die if he doesn't is a bit intense."

"It's true though," Nessie whispered, her eyes welling up with tears again. I was sure this was due more to her argument with Jacob than to her impending doom. She was just like her mother in so many ways.

"That's not the point," Alice grumbled. "I'm sure he knows it's true. I can tell you right now though, that approach won't work."

"Then what—" Carlisle began.

"I don't _know_," Alice replied, frustrated. "I have to get out of here so I can see. Jasper, you stay here to try to help Aro in any way you can." Jasper nodded, but Alice didn't hang around to see it. She was out the door as soon as the words had left her mouth.

"I ruin everything," Nessie wailed. She began sobbing inconsolably again.

"That's not true, Nessie," Rosalie whispered, clutching her sore throat.

"Yes it is," Nessie sobbed. "Alice would be able to see if I wasn't here."

"No one blames you for that, sweetie," Esme moved to Edward's side to comfort Nessie. "Alice can usually see around you somewhat, it's just that for something this important, she needs to see with more precision."

"Do you think my being here, this close to Aro, is still causing problems?" Nessie said in between sniffles.

"Perhaps we should go to the cottage, just to be on the safe side," Edward suggested.

"Daddy, no, Aro needs you here," Nessie's voice was firm, despite her nonstop flow of tears. "I'll just head there."

"Nessie, you shouldn't be alone right now," Edward told her.

"I'll go with her," I volunteered. I didn't really want to be away from Rosalie for that long, but Edward was absolutely right. Nessie shouldn't be alone right now. Besides, being away from Rosalie and Aro might do me some good. Venom had been pooling in my mouth for the past thirty minutes, and it was becoming almost impossible to concentrate. I didn't think I was going to do much good if all I could think was _don't kill them, don't kill them, don't kill them_.

"Thank you, Emmett," Nessie whispered. "Will Rosalie be all right?"

"I'll be fine," Rosalie whispered. "I'm very tired anyway. I think I should go back to sleep. Between being pregnant and being sick, it's all I can do to keep my eyes open."

I moved to pick Rosalie up, but Edward intervened. "Esme, would you mind taking Rosalie back to bed so Emmett and Nessie can be on their way?" I cast him a grateful look. I didn't mind taking care of Rosalie in the slightest, but being a newborn _did_ make it rather trying to be around humans for long.

"Of course, dear." Esme lifted Rosalie in a swift motion and moved quickly but gracefully to the stairs, taking care not to jostle her.

"C'mon Ness, let's blow this popsicle stand," I said, doing my best to be as upbeat as possible.

"What's a popsicle stand?" Nessie asked.

"Never mind, let's go," I grinned. Once we stepped outside, breathing in the fresh air that was untainted with the aroma of human blood did wonders for my ability to think straight. I really should feed, and soon.

"Ness, I know I promised your dad I'd take you to the cabin, but..." Nessie eyeballed me suspiciously, her face still red and puffy. I cringed inwardly. The girl was having a really rough time. I shouldn't be so insensitive. Still, I did have to think of my own needs too. "Do you mind if I grab something to eat first?" I finished.

"Oh!" Nessie exclaimed. "I'm so sorry, Emmett. This must be just awful for you, being around Rosalie and Aro. Here I am crying my eyes out because some jerk of a man was being unreasonable, and you're having a much harder time of things than I am. I'm such a selfish, insufferable—"

"Nessie, cut it out. You're not any of those things," I interrupted her. "You're having a bad day. We all have them."

"You don't," she pointed out.

I stared at her incredulously. "Were you _there_ a couple of weeks ago?"

"That was different!" Nessie exclaimed. "Your own mate rejected you. How were you supposed to react?"

I sighed. I couldn't very well point out to Nessie that the exact same thing had just happened to her, not when I'd been the one that she had come to when she was feeling uncertain about the direction her relationship with Jacob should take. I felt certain that, sooner or later, she and Jacob would wind up together, but this was a reality she had to meet on her own terms. If I tried to tell her my thoughts on the topic, it would only make her want to prove me wrong. Instead of pointing out the truth as I saw it, I masterfully changed the subject.

"So, food?" I asked.

Nessie folded her arms over her chest and pouted. "Rosalie's right you know. All you ever think about is blood, blood, blood."

I waited patiently for her to give me a yes or no answer. If I wasn't already made of immortal stone-flesh and venom-blood, my stomach would be grumbling. "Fine!" she finally threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. "Let's go get you some blood. Just don't whine."

"I never whine!" I protested. I realized my voice sounded a little whiny as I said that, so I clamped my mouth shut. Out of my peripheral vision, I could see Nessie smirking. Good. Better for her to laugh at my expense than keep crying, no matter how justified her tears. We trotted off into the woods together, with me forcing myself to keep pace with Nessie. Edward would never forgive me if I left her alone even for a minute when she was this distraught.

We found some deer before too long. I wished we had the time to go on a longer hunting trip, but it was just unreasonable to even consider it with Nessie along. Ordinarily, Nessie would stand off to the side and watch curiously when we hunted, but on this occasion, she shocked me by taking down a deer of her own.

"You all right?" I asked her when I had polished off my own meal.

"Yeah," she replied, sounding ashamed of herself. She looked thoughtful.

"You know, none of us would be upset if you decided to drink animal blood instead of eating human food," I informed her.

"I know that." She sighed and sank to the grass, wrapping her arms around her knees. I sat down beside her, looking straight ahead and waiting for her to gather her thoughts. "I don't want to change my diet. I just thought maybe treating myself a little might make me feel better."

"Did it?"

"No," she answered immediately. "I don't even understand what I'm so upset about." _I do_, I thought, but I wasn't about to tell her that. We continued to sit in the forest in silence for a little while longer, until Nessie finally rose from the ground and turned, without a word, heading in the direction of the cottage. We made our way there slowly, deliberately, going at roughly the pace of a human stroll. I wished there was something I could say to ease Nessie's pain.

Bella was already at the cottage by the time we got there. She must have finally finished up with Charlie and been filled in on the details when she arrived back at the main house. "Hey guys," she called out.

"Hey," I replied noncommittally. "How's Charlie?"

"I finally got him to go to sleep. He kept insisting that he's 'not going to let a little old bug keep him down.' Sue looked like she might smack him with a spoon, baseball bat, or anything else she had handy." Bella snorted. "She's never liked us too much, of course, but I think even she was relieved to have my help for a few hours. Do you think Alice's idea about Aro will work?" She switched subjects without another thought.

"Maybe, if we can somehow get him to do the impossible, I guess," I mumbled. "I don't know what we're going to do if we can't though. We don't really have a lot of options."

Bella sighed. "I can't _believe_ the wolves would actually prefer that we let Aro suffer that kind of excruciating torment rather than putting him out of his misery. It's unimaginably cruel." She carefully avoided Jacob's name. Obviously, Edward must have filled her in pretty carefully on the precise details of what had transpired.

I couldn't think of a single thing to say in response, so I just nodded sadly. "Well, if you're going to be staying here with Nessie, I think I'll head back home and see if anybody's heard from Alice yet. I hate sitting around not being able to _do_ anything."

Nessie flopped facefirst onto Bella's couch, and Bella gave me an apologetic smile as she trailed in after her daughter. I took that as my cue to leave.

Back at the house again, I couldn't figure out how to handle Aro's presence. Should I try to ignore him and pretend he wasn't there? That seemed like a horrible way to treat a friend. Was I really thinking of Aro as a friend? Well, what else could he be considered to be?

I knelt down on the floor beside Aro's head, placing my elbows on the couch beside him and resting my chin on my hands. I stared at him in silence for awhile, hoping that my compassion and caring for his well-being could somehow be felt by him despite the torture he was enduring. "Aro, buddy," I whispered. His head jerked slightly in response, so I knew he was listening. "I know it's hard. I know it. I've been there. Letting go... It's the hardest thing you'll ever do. But it's the _right_ thing to do. For you, and for her." Aro turned his head to face away from me, which I took to mean that my words of advice were unwelcome. I sighed and went back to watching on quietly.

Less than a minute later, Carlisle's phone rang. "What just happened?" Alice's voice shrieked on the other end. Carlisle went ahead and put her on speaker. "Something just happened. Everything just changed. I can see things so much clearer now."

"Nessie left in case she was interfering with your visions," Esme supplied helpfully.

"No, no, no, I figured that out half an hour ago. Something _just_ happened. What was it? I need to know," Alice pleaded.

"Um," I spoke up uncomfortably. "I said something to Aro."

"Whatever you were saying, I think you were on the right track," Alice chirped excitedly. "I got a flash of him becoming a vampire. It only lasted for a few seconds, but it was perfectly crystal clear."

Great. The entire future of my family depending on _my_ ability to figure out the right thing to say?

We were doomed.

"So what do I do now?" I asked, not daring to voice my thoughts aloud. "Just keep randomly talking out of my rear end to Aro and hope that something sticks and causes him to re-evaluate his priorities?"

"Could you?" Alice asked, completely missing the sarcastic tone of my voice.

I sighed. "Alice, you know how insane this is, right?"

"Well it's all we've got," Alice replied. "Wait, before you get started, let me head home, since Nessie isn't there to block my visions anymore. I can give you feedback on what I see working and what I see failing."

That was something, at least. We weren't relying _completely_ on my admittedly dubious loquacity. I'd have Alice as a failsafe. "Fine," I grudgingly agreed. "Hurry back. I don't want to have too much time to overthink what I'm saying."

"I'm on my way now. Edward, smack Emmett if he starts thinking too much," Alice commanded before hanging up her phone.

"Well, that's a sentence I never expected anyone to say," I muttered quietly. What was I going to say to Aro? What had I said before that was right? What if I said the wrong thing? Suddenly, something hit me in the side of the head.

"Hey!" I complained. I located the object on the ground near me. It was one of the controllers to one of my gaming systems. "Be careful with my stuff, you jerk!"

"Sorry," Edward grinned. "Just following orders."

I grumbled and went back to watching Aro. He seemed mildly interested in what was going on around him, since he must have head the conversation with Alice. I decided not to give any more thought to what I was going to say to him until she got here. I really didn't want the TV ripped off the wall and chucked at my head. I hoped she was planning to hurry. Watching him like this was terrible. As far as I was concerned, Aro was an honorary Cullen.

"I think we all feel the same way, to a degree," Edward remarked quietly. I remained silent. I knew I had no reason to feel this way, but I was a little embarrassed to voice my thoughts aloud in front of Aro.

After what felt like an eternity, Alice finally returned. "Good grief woman, how far away did you go?" I grumbled.

"I'm sorry. I had to see," Alice replied. "Now, what _exactly_ did you say to Aro?" I recapped my musings for her, still having difficulty believing that anything I'd said had made a difference. "Oh, I see," Alice seemed lost in thought.

"Yes, I agree," Edward chimed in. After a short pause, he continued. "Well, that theory makes the most sense. After all, what reason does he have... Precisely."

"Will you two knock it off?" I leapt up from the ground, fists clenched, ready for a fight. "Do you have any idea how irritating that is?"

"Calm down," Jasper said softly, working to help me to do exactly that.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"He _is_ still a newborn, you guys," Jasper chastised his wife and brother. "You might show a little consideration for his emotional state."

"Oops," Alice giggled. "I was thinking that Aro must have reacted when you said that it was the right thing to do for Sulpicia. I think that perhaps he doesn't care about himself anymore at all, after finally feeling remorse for his past actions. Edward confirmed that Aro doesn't really think he deserves to live after all the terrible things he's done, and the only reason he even remotely wants to go on is because he wants to help us."

Alice's words stabbed through my heart with the force of a thousand razor blades. "He's a changed man," I protested. "Anyone can see that. Yes, he's done terrible things, but—"

"That's not the point right now," Alice cut me off with a wave of her hand. "We have all the time in the world to work on improving his self-esteem later. Right _now_, we need him to find a _reason_ to let go of his wife, and it seems like the only thing that's ever come close was when you said it was the best thing for _her_."

I pondered that. "I don't think that's going to be strong enough," I mused aloud. "When I went through this, I knew intellectually that letting go was the _right thing_ to do. It didn't give me some magical capacity to unravel decades of emotions and memories, fuzzy and inaccessible though they were." I flapped my arms uselessly in frustration. I knew what I was trying to express, but the right words weren't coming to me.

Edward tilted his head to one side. "I regret that I didn't spend more time with you during this period. I might have gained valuable insight into what _did_ finally enable you to let go."

I shuffled my feet uncomfortably. I knew exactly what had allowed me to let go. I just didn't want to say it in case Rosalie woke up and could hear me. This wasn't exactly a comfortable topic. Just as it was hard for Edward to talk about the time when he'd left Bella, I didn't want to think about the time that Rosalie and I had been at odds.

"I understand," Edward told me sincerely. "If it wasn't of the utmost importance, we would never ask you to speak of it."

"Oh, Emmett, you know that's true," Alice cried out, surprising me by throwing her arms around me in a death-grip embrace. "I'm sorry; we know how hard this is for you, and if there were any other choice at all, we wouldn't push you like this."

Esme stepped to my side and patted my shoulder reassuringly. "None of us will think any less of you, dear. If you know of any way to help Aro—"

"Yes," I blurted out. "I was able to let go of Rosalie when I got _angry_ with her. God, I'm so sorry," I whispered the last sentence. If Alice hadn't still had her arms around me, I would have sunk to my knees. "I was so furious with her. I blamed her for everything, the burning, the suffering I'd endured by being displaced, the misery of facing life alone. I pinned all of it on her and I... I think I hated her for it." I might be a pretty manly fellow, but if I still had tears in me, I'd be crying them right now.

Alice gasped and backed away from me, taking my hand firmly in hers as she did so. "That must have been so difficult for you to say," she cooed soothingly as Jasper watched on, helping me to relax.

"Aro?" Edward said. "Have you considered the possibility that, had Sulpicia simply accepted what you had done, you would never have had to endure the humiliation of being cared for by the very family you had actively hunted and attempted to acquire in the past?" He waited a few moments. "Yes, I realize that you've come to conclude that you shouldn't have pursued us with such fervor. Please believe me when I say that we all appreciate that conclusion. Nevertheless, it must have been degrading to you in the beginning." Edward sighed and addressed the rest of us. "He feels that she had every right to react the way she did."

"Bull," I blurted out. Alice's head snapped back to face me, and a slow smile formed on her face. She nodded encouragingly. "People mess up. People make mistakes. Vampires have a lot bigger capacity to mess up and make even bigger mistakes. You forgive the people you love for their mistakes. Look at Edward. He left Carlisle and Esme for years and killed more humans than the rest of us combined. Do they hold that over his head? Did they turn him away when he came back?" I was starting to get myself riled up. I felt like I needed an actual soap box to stand on.

"No," I continued boldly. "They welcomed him back with open arms and forgave him on the spot. Why do you suppose that is? Because they love him, that's why. Almost all of us have killed people. Rosalie never drank from the people she killed, but she did kill them. Has Carlisle ever held that against any of us? Have any of the others? We've had to leave town on a moment's notice because one of us slipped up and killed someone or did something in front of a human that made them too suspicious. None of us has ever said 'well, you've had too many strikes, time for you to get out of here.' None of us has even thought it."

"It's true," Edward confirmed. "No one in this family has ever considered abandoning anyone else."

Alice's eyes had become unfocused. I paused, waiting for her to say something. Her eyes returned to their normal state. "Keep going," she whispered.

"That's what people do when they love each other," I went on. "They accept their mistakes and past transgressions and move on. They help each other. They don't just turn tail and run or send people off to fend for themselves. Yes, Aro, what you did was pretty awful, but if Sulpicia really loved you like she claimed to, she would have found a way to handle it, or to let you help her handle it. If she really loved you like a mate does, she wouldn't have been _able_ to just let go like that, even if part of her wanted to."

"That's it!" Alice exclaimed. "That did it!"

"Does that mean I can stop preaching?" I felt suddenly very self-conscious of all the eyes on me. I had the undivided attention of the entire room. I wasn't big on long speeches, and I'd just made one of the longest of my entire life. To my surprise, Esme began clapping her hands softly. Alice was next to join in, followed by Edward, Jasper, and Carlisle.

"Come on guys, knock it off," I complained, hanging my head in embarrassment.

Aro let out a long shriek, then at last, he stopped clutching at his throat.

Carlisle stopped clapping to touch a hand to Aro's forehead. "It worked," he announced. "His fever is gone. He should complete the transformation as normal now."

"He'll have you to thank when he wakes up," Alice grinned. "Oh, Edward, look! He's going to have normal vampire skin again."

"I had wondered about that," Edward remarked. "Well, now that this is settled, does anyone object if I call my wife and daughter and ask them to join us?"

I snorted. Edward must be going nuts, spending an entire day without Bella and a couple of hours without Nessie. He shot me a dirty look, but made no verbal mention of my thoughts.

"That should be fine," Alice confirmed. "I don't think there's anything pressing I need to see now. For the moment, everything seems to be as close to normal as it's going to be."

Thank goodness. I excused myself from my circle of admirers to head upstairs and watch over my angel as she slept. What exactly was "normal" for us anyway?


	37. Rebirth

**I know, I know, I'm a terrible person for going all this time without updating. If I were you, I would seriously flog the living crap out of me! I would love to be able to say "Oh I've been so super busy etc etc etc" but the truth is… I've been really, really stuck on how to get the next chapter or two done. As you've probably guessed, the story is drawing to a close, and I know how I want to wrap things up… I just haven't been able to figure out how to get there! I had FULLY intended on making Vanquished a 100% Emmett-POV story, but this chapter just would NOT work. I started it a couple times and couldn't get more than a page or so done before I scrapped it, so here we go.**

**Thanks for all the words of encouragement / nudges / etc. I apologize for not replying to anything the last couple of weeks – Somehow, my email alerts all got shut off and it took me awhile to realize it.**

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Thirty-Seven – Rebirth

_Aro_

This was positively dreadful.

Of course I had known it would be so, having gone through this same process once already. Had I ever imagined I would go through it again one thousand years hence, I might have opted for death rather than transformation. As much as I enjoyed being the ruler of my kind, was it truly worth going through this agony a second time?

Could anything ever be worth it again without…

Ahh, but Sulpicia no longer desired me, and as terrible as it would be to face existence without her, I was no quitter. I would persevere, as I always had. Certainly, it would be a challenge to reintegrate with brother Caius without Marcus at our side, but if anyone could handle the task, it was I.

If only this dreadful, dreadful burning would end.

To think I had actually believed the sore throat was the beginning of the change.

My first transformation had been shrouded in fear, for I hadn't quite understood what was happening to me. This time, I was well aware of what I'd chosen, as well as the consequences and benefits of that decision. The first time, I hadn't known if I could trust the one who changed me. This time, I was surrounded by… _Friends_.

I confess that it was strange to think of the golden-eyed coven—family—as friends. Friends of the Volturi, or friends of only Aro? That remained to be seen. Nevertheless, I would not soon forget the kindness they had shown me in bringing me into their home and keeping me safe. I shuddered to think how my attempts at survival may have gone without their thoughtful assistance.

And the wonders I'd seen! Of course I had known that the world outside the walls of Volterra had changed considerably during the time I'd spent there, but to think that every household was equipped with such boxes! Boxes that showed images and sounds to entertain, boxes that one could use to buy items, boxes that could be used to contact others. So many colorful and delightful boxes!

I would miss some of the products I had so thoroughly enjoyed. Chee-tos and Bud Light. Miracle Whip. Yoo-hoo chocolate drinks. Still, there were many other delightful items I would be able to continue to enjoy. If I was successful in smoothing things over with Caius, I would need to speak with him immediately about getting one of those "Z-boxes" that Emmett loved so dearly. At least, I think that's what he called it. Y-box? Q-box? Some strange letter of the alphabet on which you could make a human-like character run in circles and shoot things with guns.

Oh my, the burning must have been nearly over if I was able to concentrate so clearly on trying to remember the names of the things I'd enjoyed in my human life. I wondered how much time had passed.

"You are correct. It won't be long now, Aro," Edward's voice spoke softly.

Having Edward around really was quite handy. It was a pity that he would never be convinced to come to Volterra with me, but at last I understood why that was the case. I couldn't begrudge him this. If I were in his place, I would want to stay with the Cullens as well. In point of fact… If the situation had been very different, I might have wished to stay with them in any event.

If they would have me, which I doubted most strongly.

On the subject of Edward and his gift, I wondered whether I would retain my original gift. I supposed I could learn to get by without it. I had certainly learned to get by without a lot of things over the past few weeks. Nevertheless, an entirely new set of challenges would be present if I were forced to convince Caius of my value if I had some new gift, or no gift at all.

As my heart rate accelerated toward what I knew would be its final beat, I began to feel very aware of a strange sort of pressure on my body. This was most curious. I didn't recall any sort of pressure like this from my first transformation, but my memories were a bit cloudy now due to the time I'd spent as a human. Emmett seemed to feel that the memories would return in time, but I was less optimistic. Emmett had only a few decades of memories to re-assimilate. I had not only a thousand years of my own memories, but also thousands of years of memories belonging to others I'd encountered, both vampire and human. My human mind would simply not have had room to store it all. I was quite certain, however, that my memory would not allow me to forget a single moment spent with my beloved, lost Sulpicia.

Such was life.

Even for one who no longer lived.

But enough quiet brooding. I had no time for such things if I was to rebuild my empire. Finding a way to continue to strike sufficient fear into the vampires of the world had been easy when I didn't care who was harmed in the process. Now that I finally understood that my actions had consequences, that others could be harmed by them... My new life would be far trickier than my old one had been.

Turning my mind to more immediate concerns, I wondered why I felt this pressure upon me. As soon as my heart finished beating, I tried to raise a hand to push away whatever was there, but my arm wouldn't move. Something was holding it back. I opened my eyes and snarled in a most undignified manner. Well, well, well. My instincts were entirely new now. How intriguing! A new chapter for our kind, and I was fortunate enough to be among the first to experience it.

While I was processing this fascinating thought, my eyes focused immediately upon what appeared to be every member of the Cullen family plus their pet wolf sitting on me at various key points of my body to hold me in place. The sight was so unexpected that I couldn't help bursting into laughter before I even had time to wonder at why they were doing this.

I drew in a breath after my outburst, and I instantly forgot what had amused me before. I snarled yet again, no longer caring who thought I was undignified. I would kill each and every one of them if I could only get up. I needed to get to what they were keeping from me. _Mine_, every instinct in my body cried out. They were trying to keep me from my prey.

"Aro," called out one of my captors, his voice laced with evident desperation. How _dare_ he address me while simultaneously keeping me from the delectable aroma nearby. I struggled against the group, believing that I could possibly win from sheer brute strength. Suddenly, something very warm and soft touched my face.

My eyes unfocused for a moment as I was bombarded with images of a very pregnant and human Rosalie, and the family's fears that I would harm her when I awoke. She was in too fragile a state to be moved, and the Cullens felt certain that others in town would notice a screaming man being transported to their cottage. The entire message was sent with a questioning flavor at the end.

"Yes, Nessie," I whispered when my senses returned to me. "Yes, I understand. Thank you." I was then allowed to slowly sit up, although I noticed that neither Emmett nor Jasper seemed to stand down from their defensive posture in the slightest. The other relaxed only infinitesimally. Truly, I couldn't lay blame upon them for that.

Dear me, I had been just about to rush over and drain Emmett's lovely wife, which wouldn't do at all as payment for their hospitality.

Edward made a noise which I could best describe as a _harrumph_. "My dear Edward, it would appear that you have me at a disadvantage, at least for the moment. Would you do me the honors?" I asked, holding out my hand palm-up. Edward, to his credit, didn't hesitate to place his palm in mine.

I closed my eyes, and for the smallest fraction of a second I was terrified that I had lost my gift. Then, after less time had passed than it takes for light to cross the room, I was receiving Edward's memories and thoughts, along with the thoughts of everyone else present. I breathed an enormous sigh of relief.

In hindsight, the sigh of relief had probably been a poor idea, since it was immediately followed by sucking in another lungful of stabbing, fire-air.

"Now that we have that squared away, we need to take you to hunt immediately," Edward murmured aloud for the benefit of the others.

This, I confessed, I had been both looking forward to and dreading terribly. Hunting Cullen-style was intriguing, but I'd also seen through the minds of the family that the taste was less than appealing. No matter. I had never stood down from a challenge, and I refused to begin on this night.

I gingerly removed my precious Snuggie and folded it gently, taking great care not to damage the delicate fabric with my new, old strength. It would take some time before I fully remembered just how strong I was. Emmett and Jasper allowed me to get to my feet, and Jasper accompanied me on the hunt, along with his wife Alice, who seemed grateful to get away from the family's pet wolf for the time being. I furrowed my brow, perplexed. Why did they keep a pet wolf if they didn't enjoy its company? I seemed to recall that everyone in the family had shown some degree of annoyance toward him. I wished I had kept my grasp on Edward for just a bit longer in an effort to understand this. Perhaps they kept him for the same reason they had kept me. Perhaps he was a refugee with nowhere else to go.

Did that make me their pet human?

"How is he doing?" Carlisle asked Edward quietly.

"His mind is occupied with many thoughts that surprise me from a newborn. Emmett was much the same way. I would hypothesize that the second transformation allows for something in between a typical newborn and a seasoned vampire," Edward told him matter-of-factly.

"That's very interesting," Carlisle said. "We'll have one more chance to observe the phenomenon very soon."

Remembering the terrible illness I'd suffered days ago, I started to ask whether Rosalie had yet recovered, but her scent was still presently putting her life in danger. Further questions would need to wait. With equal parts grudging and optimism, I followed Alice and Jasper outside for my very first animal hunt.

**Sorry for the short chapter after so long without an update. I just had to get SOMETHING up. The next chapter or two will most likely be from Aro's POV as well, but we'll get back to Emmett before long.**


	38. Remorse

**Erg. I can only apologize so many times for long breaks in between chapters before I sound insincere. Things have been a little weird in my life. I'm sorry. I will try really super mega ultra hard to have another new chapter up soon. Maybe one of a proper length. It's also hard for me to do the thing I KNOW I have to do soon in this story… :(**

**I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.**

Chapter Thirty-Eight – Remorse

_Aro_

I spat out my very first taste of deer.

"This can't _really_ be what you eat!" I exclaimed.

Alice looked slightly amused by my proclamation.

"What is this, some kind of trick?" I asked suspiciously, dropping into a defensive stance.

Jasper sighed. "The flavor takes some getting used to," he allowed, and I suddenly felt much calmer.

I eyed the dead deer. I considered whether it might taste any different if I approached it from another angle, but dismissed that idea as foolish. I realized, too late, that I had only dismissed the idea after running in a circle around the deer a few times.

Alice continued to look amused. "You'll get used to it," she declared, eyes unfocused.

Hrmph. It was difficult to argue with the little psychic one. Grudgingly, I leaned forward and drew in another mouthful of the sour-tasting liquid. It tasted as if it had gone rancid, but I forced myself to swallow and found that it did, in fact, cool the burn in my throat slightly.

"I don't want another one of _those_," I protested as Jasper and Alice dragged me off to kill more animals.

"Sorry Aro, but you need to feed more than just that before we take you anywhere near Rosalie again," Alice chirped.

"You don't _sound_ especially sorry," I observed sourly. Alice didn't bother to reply, but the twinkle in her eye confirmed my hypothesis. She wasn't actually sorry at all. I continued to protest as I followed the mated pair through the woods until Jasper finally stopped short in front of me.

"Aro, will you stop _pouting_? It's not very becoming."

"I wasn't pouting! I was… Expressing my discomfort with the situation."

Jasper narrowed his golden eyes at me. I wondered how long one needed to maintain a diet of these perfectly dreadful creatures in order to have eyes that color. "You. Were. Pouting."

"Neither one of you is ever going to admit defeat, so can we just agree to disagree?" Alice piped up.

"Does she always do this?" I asked Jasper, referring to his wife's tendency to look to the future for the outcome of arguments.

"Yes," she replied serenely. "There's another deer."

I sighed and drained another disgusting beast. "Satisfied?" I grumbled.

Jasper eyed me for a long moment. "It will do," he relented at last. The three of us started back to the Cullen home.

"I have no plans to harm Emmett's wife," I explained as we ran. "But if it would make you feel better, perhaps you should set your pet wolf to following me?" It seemed a perfectly reasonable solution to me. The rest of the family was busy tending to Rosalie's needs, which were likely to be substantial while she continued to carry half-vampire twins. The wolf, on the other hand, had no specific responsibilities in the household that I'd ever observed.

Alice looked uncomfortable at this suggestion. "I'm not sure whether he's going to be around when we get there," she said faintly.

"You're always sure of everything," I pointed out.

Jasper chuckled. "Her power doesn't work where the wolves are concerned." I remembered that fact in a strange, fuzzy sort of way, once he'd said it. "That's not what she was talking about though."

I felt my brow furrow in confusion. "Then what…?"

"I'm not sure if Nessie is going to let him stick around," Alice murmured. "He had shown up to apologize, and then you started to wake up and he jumped to pin you down along with everyone else, but Nessie still wasn't seeming particularly inclined to forgive him at that point."

"Forgive him?" I repeated. "So he's Nessie's pet wolf? I was under the impression that he was a family pet."

Jasper could no longer contain his laughter at all. Alice shot him a disapproving look, but said nothing to him. Instead, she addressed my question. "He's not really our _pet wolf_. He's… more like a friend of the family, I suppose," she began.

That didn't precisely fit with the interactions I'd observed between the wolf and the Cullens. At least, I didn't think it did. My memories were still hazy, but he definitely seemed to fall into a sort of subservient role. Particularly where Nessie was concerned. I didn't ask any further questions though, because I remembered that I had Edward's memories from my reading of him only a short time ago, and they were not at all hazy. I searched through his recollections of the nature of the family's relationship with Jacob and gasped. "I see," I said quietly. "If Nessie doesn't forgive him—"

"We don't know precisely what that will do to him," Alice confirmed in a soft voice. "She probably will, though. I can't see either of them to be sure, but Nessie's not really one to hold a grudge."

"It's my fault that she's angry with him," I mumbled.

"Aro, you didn't make him run off at the mouth and say something asinine," Jasper corrected me.

"But if I hadn't retained my attachment to…" Despite everything, I couldn't quite bring myself to speak Sulpicia's name aloud. "If I had been more detached, I would have transformed normally. If I had been better able to tolerate the illness, Carlisle wouldn't have needed to turn me when he did. If—"

"You can't blame yourself for being sick!" Alice exclaimed.

Perhaps she was right, but nonetheless, the wolf had only been trying to do what came naturally to him. I had caused significant turbulence in the lives of the Cullens. I felt as if subsequent events had somewhat made up for the turmoil I'd caused Emmett and Rosalie. After all, they were about to have children of their own. My interference with the relationship of Nessie and her wolf, though, couldn't be solved with children. I didn't think Nessie was particularly inclined to have children at this point, if it were even possible for hybrid females, and even if she were, it would be somewhat difficult from what I recalled of human anatomy for her wolf to impregnate her if she would not allow him to speak to her.

Still, Alice was leaving something out of the equation. My blame went back further than simply my becoming ill. If I'd never become human again, I would never have become ill. I would not have become human again if I hadn't killed Didyme.

My own sister. I'd never properly mourned her passing, even though it should have been far more upsetting to me than the loss of a covenmate. Marcus's wife, his soulmate, his reason for existing. How could I have done such a selfish and horrible thing to a man I dared call "brother?"

Brother. I hadn't properly understood the meaning of the word until I spent time with the Cullens. Only after seeing Emmett, Jasper, and Edward show genuine love for one another, putting their own needs behind those of their brothers, did I finally comprehend how Marcus, Caius, and I should have been from the beginning.

But it was too late. I had already thrown it all away, and I not only had nothing to show for it, but I had hurt so many people in my quest for power. Power which held no meaning whatsoever to me now that I had no one with whom to share it.

My mind was back to the way it should be. Vast. Endless, really. Capable of handling many tasks at once. Able to learn anything, to store anything, to create anything. How was it possible that with all of this space in my mind, I'd never before learned to be compassionate?

I hadn't even noticed that we were back at the Cullens' house until Edward quietly replied to my unspoken question. "Because you never had the proper upbringing before."

Upbringing? I seethed momentarily with fury until once again, suddenly feeling remarkably calm. Jasper was staring at me worriedly. Of course, that was why I kept feeling calm. My own memory couldn't quite recall Jasper's empathic abilities, but Edward's memories had made it more than clear. I should probably explain my sudden burst of emotion.

"I'm sorry about that, Jasper. You see, when Edward referred to my 'upbringing,' I felt that he was implying that I was some sort of child. As I am far older than anyone else in this scenario, both in terms of physical age and in terms of chronological age, I objected to that assessment."

"I meant no disrespect," Edward put in hurriedly. "I was only referring to your state of mind when you were changed from a human to a vampire. I didn't know what else to call it."

That did make considerably more sense. Being with the Cullens had changed me in ways I'd never believed possible, and in truth, ways I would never have wanted if the choice had been presented to me two months before this adventure began. Whether or not these changes would be permanent remained to be seen. I could only hope that they would. Caring about power and only power was fun for awhile, but eventually it gave way to a lonely existence. No wonder I had depended so heavily upon Sulpicia. It wasn't only because she was my mate. It was also because she was the only person who would voluntarily have anything to do with me.

Friends. I'd never had much use for them before. Making friends didn't give you more power, and in fact, it often got in the way of gaining more power. Now I desperately wanted a friend, and I knew that it was impossible. There could be no one left in the vampire community who didn't already either fear me or despise me. I deserved it. I deserved it all for what I'd done.

Without warning, Edward moved quickly to my side and grasped my hand. The motion startled me, nearly causing another surge of panic, but he must have tipped Jasper off to what he was about to do, because the emotion didn't overtake me this time. After a few moments, I realized what he was trying to tell me.

"Carlisle would still consider me a friend after everything I've done? Even after the things I've done to his family and to him personally?" That couldn't be right. No one was that forgiving.

"Carlisle is," Edward said firmly, releasing my hand from his grasp. "If you truly need a friend, I suggest starting there. He's in his study."

I nodded curtly, my head spinning with too much information to properly organize. Sulpicia. Didyme. Jacob. Nessie. Carlisle. What could I do? What should I do? I knew I needed to rescue this family from Caius, but I didn't feel as if I could run away now, not without fixing the other problems I'd caused, and not without having a friend in the world. I had nothing to lose from following Edward's advice. I took a deep breath, pushing away the urge to chase after the scent of human blood that was only _just up the stairs_, and made my way to Carlisle's study.


End file.
